As I promised here are the next reviews:
Transformers
Some things I never really understood. For example, why all my friends liked Transformers so much when I was a kid. I always thought they were stupid and boring, and therefore I didn't even consider watching "Transformers" at a theatre.
But sometimes even I can be proven wrong.
From the first minute of the movie I was weirdly drawn to it. It's humour, it's crazy protagonist and it's awesome special effects, even though I've seen better.
The story is pretty simple. The Autobots and the Decepticons have come to earth to find the All Spark, the object that created their robotic race. The Autobots want to destroy it, because the Decepticons are planing to turn all machines on earth into an evil army.
Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is madly in love with Mikaela (Megan Fox). But he is more or less a loser. This changes when he and his father go and buy Sam's first car. The old Camaro turns out to be Bumblebee, one of the Autobots, who tries to help Sam to get to Mikaela.
When the Decepticons find out the location of the All Spark they invade earth and the battle with the Autobots begins...
"Transformers" is more or less your average comic movie:
You have a loser that is in love with the hottest girl in school. He finds out that he has superpowers or gets something that has superpowers. This something has to save the earth in the end and the loser gets the beautiful girl.
Simple and effective, but it works really good once more in Transformers. The humour is really great and something completely different from this years serious adations like "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight".
The plot is more or less solid and has no real surprises, but it nevertheless entertains throughout all the 138 minutes.
The actors are good, although you don't have to expect Academy Award worthy performances. But you have to mention that Megan Fox is really überfoxy. Her pure presence is absolutely steamy. With this as a bonus and an absolutely entertaining 2 hours I give:
8.0 out of 10 mutating cars
Into the Wild
Every year there are movies made by people who I wouldn't consider as powerful directors. Last year one of this movies was "Into the Wild" by Sean Penn. His fourth feature film tells the story of Christopher McCandless who decides to travel through the USA shortly after his college graduation. His doesn't tell his family that he is planning a trip because he doesn't want them to hunt him down. He wants to leave everything behind. At first he travels west to Arizona, then down the Colorado river into Mexico and next up north through California to go to Alaska. On his travels he meets a lot of different people. For example Jan and Rainey, a hippie-couple that drives through the country, or Ron Franz, an old leather craftsman who wants to adopt Christopher, because he has no children of his own.
The plot is told like puzzle. At first we see Christopher discovering his "magic" bus in the wilderness of Alaska. Then we always jump back in time. In these fragments we learn Christopher's story and the how and why he went to Alaska. He is a frustrated young adult who cannot bear living with his parents and their expectations. He decides to get reborn, but not in a religious way, but in his own spiritual and natural way. His journey is subdivided in chapters of a life: Childhhod, Adolescence, Manhood and The Gaining of Wisdom.
The movie is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless which has been published as a non-fictional novel by Jon Krakauer in 1996.
I haven't read the book so far, but what Sean Penn does with the material is truthfully and honestly a masterpiece. The movie has an official running time of 148 minutes. These 2 and a half hours fly by. The plot is constructed to be entertaining, thought-provoking and pittoresque. And it works perfectly fine, given the fact that the people Christopher meets are interesting, their stories make you wonder about society and the nature, especially of Alaska are breathtakingly beautiful. Sean Penn's director's eye is unique and his style of presenting people and nature is phenomenal.
The cast proves to be phenomenal as well. I've seen Emile Hirsch in "The Girl Next Door", which wasn't the top of acting, but what he establishes here is outstanding for a 22-year-old. His resemblance with the real Chris McCandless is remarkable and his acting is top-notch. But the rest of the ensemble is marvellous as well:
Catherine Keener as hippie Jan is heartwarming, William Hurt as Walt McCandless, Chris' father is very strong and 82-year-old Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz deserves his Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actor".
Another thing that I have to mention is the shots of the countryside. Alaska, California and Arizona are shot beautifully and make it impossible to not get infected with wanderlust. The Grand Canyon is such an amazing wonder of nature and the Alaskan tundra is gorgeous.
The last thing that makes this movie a perfect masterpiece is the score by Eddie Vedder who received a Golden Globe for his song "Guaranteed". The quiet and yet powerful songs plus the intertextual references are conductive to one of the most beautiful and saddest movies about human society I've seen in a very long time.
9.6 out 10 travelling scholars of life and nature
Please watch this movie! It is absolutely wonderful!
That's it for today folks!
Samstag, 27. Dezember 2008
#31
Hello everyone!
So Christmas seems to be a good time of the year to watch some movies. At least I used the spare time and I watched:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
After I saw the first 5-6 episodes of the series, which in my opinion is a little bit boring due to the fact that each episode is really short, I wanted to watch the film. Neither the critics nor the general public seemed to like it (rotten tomatoes has an average of 18% and imdb shows an average of 5.3/10). But I wanted to watch the movie with as little prejudice as possible.
So I did and I have to admit that I ended up liking it. Or I felt entertained for the most part.
Even though the only voices from the real movie where those of Sam Jackson and Christopher Lee, I did not have the feeling that something important was missing. Especially happy made me the fact that they couldn't/didn't get Hayden Christensen. I liked Anakin for the first time since "The Phantom Menace".
The story is really simple, but who could be surprised given the fact that this movie is only a lead-in to the series. Jabba the Hutt's is being kidnapped by Count Dooku's assasin Asajj Ventress and held captive on a nearby planet. Anakin and his new Padawan Ahsoka are sent to rescue the Huttlet. But Dooku set the kidnapping up to make Jabba believe that the Jedi want to kill the Hutt Clan. So Anakin and his padawan have to save the Huttlet, return to Tatooine and bring him back safely.
The plot is no fireworks of imagination and big surprises but it is Star Wars.
The setting is great, the score is fantastic as always, the humour is really well placed and the new characters fit perfectly into the world.
One of the biggest problems seemed to be the 3-D look of the movie. I personally like it very much. Some less important sceneries are scarce, but the important settings are detailed and enarmored.
7.4 out of 10 fighting Clones
Eagle Eye
Sometimes there are movies which I want to see because I like one or more actors. Sometimes I want to see a movie because I liked the trailer. Sometimes I want to watch a movie because of a recommendation of one of my friends. And sometimes neither of this applies and I watch a movie out of mere curiousity. With "Eagle Eye" the latter one was the case:
The actors are ok, the trailer was mere average and none of my friends had seen it thus far, but there was something that attracted to this flick.
The plot in short:
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) gets home and finds his appartment stuffed with material to build bombs etc. He gets a call in which a female voice tels him to leave the appartment in the next 30 seconds, because the FBI will be there.
Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) kisses her son goodbye. He's going on a band trip to Washington. As she leaves the station she gets a call as well. She's being told that she has to get into a Porsche Cayenne and drive to a location in order to see her son alive again.
They both want to refuse, but the female voice shows them that she is far more powerful than the two are. They are being sent on a mission that could change the USA forever...
At the beginning of the movie the plot seems to be solid but not out of the ordinary, but the further the story goes the more intriguided you get, because the real plot unravels itself slowly but thrillingly.
The acting is solid, the score is fitting and the character constellation is really good.
What the movie is missing are surprises, because even though the story is revealed slowly you never think: "Wow, that was unexpected!"
Still "Eagle Eye" has it's strengths and knows to entertain. Especially the relationship of Jerry and Rachel (LaBeouf and Monaghan) is thrilling and makes you wonder throughout the whole movie whether or not there will be a kiss.
Another thing worth mentioning is Billy Bob Thornton's performance as FBI Agent Thomas Morgan. He is incredibly sarcastic and really cool at the same time.
For an alltogether positive and entertaining movie I give:
8.2 out of 10 unknown female callers
Stay tuned for a review of Transformers and another movie during the next couple of days. That's all folks!
So Christmas seems to be a good time of the year to watch some movies. At least I used the spare time and I watched:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
After I saw the first 5-6 episodes of the series, which in my opinion is a little bit boring due to the fact that each episode is really short, I wanted to watch the film. Neither the critics nor the general public seemed to like it (rotten tomatoes has an average of 18% and imdb shows an average of 5.3/10). But I wanted to watch the movie with as little prejudice as possible.
So I did and I have to admit that I ended up liking it. Or I felt entertained for the most part.
Even though the only voices from the real movie where those of Sam Jackson and Christopher Lee, I did not have the feeling that something important was missing. Especially happy made me the fact that they couldn't/didn't get Hayden Christensen. I liked Anakin for the first time since "The Phantom Menace".
The story is really simple, but who could be surprised given the fact that this movie is only a lead-in to the series. Jabba the Hutt's is being kidnapped by Count Dooku's assasin Asajj Ventress and held captive on a nearby planet. Anakin and his new Padawan Ahsoka are sent to rescue the Huttlet. But Dooku set the kidnapping up to make Jabba believe that the Jedi want to kill the Hutt Clan. So Anakin and his padawan have to save the Huttlet, return to Tatooine and bring him back safely.
The plot is no fireworks of imagination and big surprises but it is Star Wars.
The setting is great, the score is fantastic as always, the humour is really well placed and the new characters fit perfectly into the world.
One of the biggest problems seemed to be the 3-D look of the movie. I personally like it very much. Some less important sceneries are scarce, but the important settings are detailed and enarmored.
7.4 out of 10 fighting Clones
Eagle Eye
Sometimes there are movies which I want to see because I like one or more actors. Sometimes I want to see a movie because I liked the trailer. Sometimes I want to watch a movie because of a recommendation of one of my friends. And sometimes neither of this applies and I watch a movie out of mere curiousity. With "Eagle Eye" the latter one was the case:
The actors are ok, the trailer was mere average and none of my friends had seen it thus far, but there was something that attracted to this flick.
The plot in short:
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) gets home and finds his appartment stuffed with material to build bombs etc. He gets a call in which a female voice tels him to leave the appartment in the next 30 seconds, because the FBI will be there.
Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) kisses her son goodbye. He's going on a band trip to Washington. As she leaves the station she gets a call as well. She's being told that she has to get into a Porsche Cayenne and drive to a location in order to see her son alive again.
They both want to refuse, but the female voice shows them that she is far more powerful than the two are. They are being sent on a mission that could change the USA forever...
At the beginning of the movie the plot seems to be solid but not out of the ordinary, but the further the story goes the more intriguided you get, because the real plot unravels itself slowly but thrillingly.
The acting is solid, the score is fitting and the character constellation is really good.
What the movie is missing are surprises, because even though the story is revealed slowly you never think: "Wow, that was unexpected!"
Still "Eagle Eye" has it's strengths and knows to entertain. Especially the relationship of Jerry and Rachel (LaBeouf and Monaghan) is thrilling and makes you wonder throughout the whole movie whether or not there will be a kiss.
Another thing worth mentioning is Billy Bob Thornton's performance as FBI Agent Thomas Morgan. He is incredibly sarcastic and really cool at the same time.
For an alltogether positive and entertaining movie I give:
8.2 out of 10 unknown female callers
Stay tuned for a review of Transformers and another movie during the next couple of days. That's all folks!
Mittwoch, 24. Dezember 2008
#30
Christmas Update:
So I've been really lazy during the last weeks, but I decided to enjoy everybody who might be reading this blog with a Christmas Update. So here are a couple of quick reviews of films that I've seen since "Wanted":
Quantum of Solace:
Since I wasn't expecting a movie as good as "Casino Royale" I wasn't as disappointed as some of the reviewers and critics. I liked the way Marc Foster varied between fast Action and slow dialog-heavy parts. It may be that this was also present in "Casino Royale" but I only noticed it in "QoS". The plot, nevertheless, was a bit sparse. It didn't electrify me, but I was never bored.
But seing as it as still a Bond film I was really disappointed in the "Bond Girls".
Strawberry Fields? Come on, seriously? Poor Miss Arterton was more than underchallenged. I think there is a lot more to her as an actress than shown in "Quantum of Solace".
I liked Olga Kyrilenko though. She wasn't as tough and emancipated as Eva Green in "Casino Royale", but she still had an aura of independence which I really fell for.
7.8 out of 10 Martinis
Thirteen:
As a huge fan of both, Evan Rachel Wood and Holly Hunter, I was surprised that I hadn't bought this beautiful movie about the problems of a teenage girl who wants to be more popular at school, but has to deal with parental and familial problems at home, where her mother accomodates everybody who needs to crash for a couple of nights, because she cannot say no.
This movie is more of a social analysis of destroyed families than a mere Hollywood movie, and I love it. Holly Hunter and especially Evan Rachel Wood have an incredible onscreen presence which makes it feel more like a documentary than a drama, if it weren't for the perfectly lit and aranged locations. "Thirteen" is not a feel good movie, but it shows the world as it is in a nearly perfect manner which makes it impossible not to be impressed by the fact that actress Nikki Reed, who plays the popular girl who's even more emotionally damaged than Wood and Hunter, wrote the script at age 14 together with director Catherine Hardwicke.
At first it seems to be an ordinary film about a girl wanting to be the popular girl, and we've surely had enough of these flicks by now, but it turns out to be so much more. If you want to learn something about how families really work, watch this movie.
8.6 out of 10 homemade navel piercings
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium:
It's always nice to see that there are still movies made which make you feel like you're a child again. This is absolutely the case with "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium", a movie about a 243-year-old man who owns a magical toy store. Edward Magorium (played by a wonderfully sweet Dustin Hoffman) has only turned 243 because he was never bored in his life and most of the time he lifes his fantasies. And now, in 2007, he is looking forward to his next big adventure: death. He wants to leave his store to young Molly Mahoney, a pianist who has never lived up to her potential due to lack of self-confidence.
But when Magorium tells Molly that he is leaving the store gets upset and looses his magical powers, because Molly doesn't believe in magic without Edward Magorium. Luckily she has little Eric Applebaum and Henry Weston to make her believe in herself.
"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" is the first movie from director Zach Helm, writer of the wonderful film "Stranger than Fiction". It is a movie that lives from two things: a) the love to detail that Zach Helm shows and b) the warmhearted performances by Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman, which make the movie feel like a modern fairy-tale.
Of course it is a movie that mostly children will like and of course it is difficult to fall for such a movie when you're a rational adult, but given the fact that I always try to keep my rationality to an acceptable level and preserve my childishness to a certain degree, it is no surprise that I really enjoyed this movie. It simply is a feel good movie and thus it lives up to the expectations.
8.2 out of 10 stupid zebras
That's all folks!
So I've been really lazy during the last weeks, but I decided to enjoy everybody who might be reading this blog with a Christmas Update. So here are a couple of quick reviews of films that I've seen since "Wanted":
Quantum of Solace:
Since I wasn't expecting a movie as good as "Casino Royale" I wasn't as disappointed as some of the reviewers and critics. I liked the way Marc Foster varied between fast Action and slow dialog-heavy parts. It may be that this was also present in "Casino Royale" but I only noticed it in "QoS". The plot, nevertheless, was a bit sparse. It didn't electrify me, but I was never bored.
But seing as it as still a Bond film I was really disappointed in the "Bond Girls".
Strawberry Fields? Come on, seriously? Poor Miss Arterton was more than underchallenged. I think there is a lot more to her as an actress than shown in "Quantum of Solace".
I liked Olga Kyrilenko though. She wasn't as tough and emancipated as Eva Green in "Casino Royale", but she still had an aura of independence which I really fell for.
7.8 out of 10 Martinis
Thirteen:
As a huge fan of both, Evan Rachel Wood and Holly Hunter, I was surprised that I hadn't bought this beautiful movie about the problems of a teenage girl who wants to be more popular at school, but has to deal with parental and familial problems at home, where her mother accomodates everybody who needs to crash for a couple of nights, because she cannot say no.
This movie is more of a social analysis of destroyed families than a mere Hollywood movie, and I love it. Holly Hunter and especially Evan Rachel Wood have an incredible onscreen presence which makes it feel more like a documentary than a drama, if it weren't for the perfectly lit and aranged locations. "Thirteen" is not a feel good movie, but it shows the world as it is in a nearly perfect manner which makes it impossible not to be impressed by the fact that actress Nikki Reed, who plays the popular girl who's even more emotionally damaged than Wood and Hunter, wrote the script at age 14 together with director Catherine Hardwicke.
At first it seems to be an ordinary film about a girl wanting to be the popular girl, and we've surely had enough of these flicks by now, but it turns out to be so much more. If you want to learn something about how families really work, watch this movie.
8.6 out of 10 homemade navel piercings
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium:
It's always nice to see that there are still movies made which make you feel like you're a child again. This is absolutely the case with "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium", a movie about a 243-year-old man who owns a magical toy store. Edward Magorium (played by a wonderfully sweet Dustin Hoffman) has only turned 243 because he was never bored in his life and most of the time he lifes his fantasies. And now, in 2007, he is looking forward to his next big adventure: death. He wants to leave his store to young Molly Mahoney, a pianist who has never lived up to her potential due to lack of self-confidence.
But when Magorium tells Molly that he is leaving the store gets upset and looses his magical powers, because Molly doesn't believe in magic without Edward Magorium. Luckily she has little Eric Applebaum and Henry Weston to make her believe in herself.
"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" is the first movie from director Zach Helm, writer of the wonderful film "Stranger than Fiction". It is a movie that lives from two things: a) the love to detail that Zach Helm shows and b) the warmhearted performances by Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman, which make the movie feel like a modern fairy-tale.
Of course it is a movie that mostly children will like and of course it is difficult to fall for such a movie when you're a rational adult, but given the fact that I always try to keep my rationality to an acceptable level and preserve my childishness to a certain degree, it is no surprise that I really enjoyed this movie. It simply is a feel good movie and thus it lives up to the expectations.
8.2 out of 10 stupid zebras
That's all folks!
Samstag, 25. Oktober 2008
#29.5
A while ago I posted a video of Schuyler Fisk performing "Hello" and "Lonely Again" at Center Staging in Burbank.
I've come across another piece of her beautiful music since then and I want to share it with you guys.
So enjoy Schuyler performing "From Where I'm Standing" from the movie "I'm Reed Fish", which I will hopefully see in the near future.
I've come across another piece of her beautiful music since then and I want to share it with you guys.
So enjoy Schuyler performing "From Where I'm Standing" from the movie "I'm Reed Fish", which I will hopefully see in the near future.
Sonntag, 12. Oktober 2008
#29
Wanted
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Cast: James McAvoy ("Wesley Gibson"), Angelina Jolie ("Fox"), Morgan Freeman ("Sloan"), Thomas Kretschmann ("Cross")
Review: Wesley Gibson is a loser. He hates his job, he hates his boss, he hates his best buddy because he screws his girlfriend and he hates everthing about himself.
But then he meets a woman at the supermarket who tells him that his father, whom he has never meet, died yesterday on top of the Metropolitan building. She tells him that his father was killer and that Wesley has the same abbilities. He can make his heart go 400 beats per minute and therefore slow everything down. After a wild and spectacular chase through the city, she takes him to "The Fraternity". The groups leader, Sloan, tells Wesley that his father left him $3.6m and that he (Sloan) wants him to join "The Fraternity" and kill his fathers killer Cross.
Wesley joins them and has to undertake a very hard training. When he is finally ready to face his father's killer there's a surprise waiting for him....
"Wanted" is a straight down action festival. The story is smart and thrilling. The cast is well chosen and very good. And the effects are as groundbreaking as "The Matrix".
When at first you feel sorry for Wesley's life you very soon start to envy him. But at any point of the movie you are totally sympathetic with him. Everybody seems to screw him, but he finally gets a chance to lead a life that he enjoys.
The effects are spectacular and at no point plate. It really is a lot of fun watching the movie. The idea of shooting in a curve is really cool even though it doesn't make a lot of sense, but "Wanted" is an action flick after all.
After "Gone in 60 Seconds" "Wanted is only the second film in which I can stand Angelina Jolie and even think she has certain qualities. Although she will never achieve the same level of hotness as does Natalie Portman or Kristen Bell.
There is however one thing that made me laugh in outrage: Why the hell do the assassination targets come from the "Loom of Fate"? This is bullshit and everybody knows it.
The Magical Loom of Fate? Come on! Hollywood can do better than that.
In spite of that "Wanted" is one of the most entertaining and best comic adaption of this year.
8.6 out of 10 curved shots
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Cast: James McAvoy ("Wesley Gibson"), Angelina Jolie ("Fox"), Morgan Freeman ("Sloan"), Thomas Kretschmann ("Cross")
Review: Wesley Gibson is a loser. He hates his job, he hates his boss, he hates his best buddy because he screws his girlfriend and he hates everthing about himself.
But then he meets a woman at the supermarket who tells him that his father, whom he has never meet, died yesterday on top of the Metropolitan building. She tells him that his father was killer and that Wesley has the same abbilities. He can make his heart go 400 beats per minute and therefore slow everything down. After a wild and spectacular chase through the city, she takes him to "The Fraternity". The groups leader, Sloan, tells Wesley that his father left him $3.6m and that he (Sloan) wants him to join "The Fraternity" and kill his fathers killer Cross.
Wesley joins them and has to undertake a very hard training. When he is finally ready to face his father's killer there's a surprise waiting for him....
"Wanted" is a straight down action festival. The story is smart and thrilling. The cast is well chosen and very good. And the effects are as groundbreaking as "The Matrix".
When at first you feel sorry for Wesley's life you very soon start to envy him. But at any point of the movie you are totally sympathetic with him. Everybody seems to screw him, but he finally gets a chance to lead a life that he enjoys.
The effects are spectacular and at no point plate. It really is a lot of fun watching the movie. The idea of shooting in a curve is really cool even though it doesn't make a lot of sense, but "Wanted" is an action flick after all.
After "Gone in 60 Seconds" "Wanted is only the second film in which I can stand Angelina Jolie and even think she has certain qualities. Although she will never achieve the same level of hotness as does Natalie Portman or Kristen Bell.
There is however one thing that made me laugh in outrage: Why the hell do the assassination targets come from the "Loom of Fate"? This is bullshit and everybody knows it.
The Magical Loom of Fate? Come on! Hollywood can do better than that.
In spite of that "Wanted" is one of the most entertaining and best comic adaption of this year.
8.6 out of 10 curved shots
#28
Burn After Reading
Director: Ethan and Joel Coen
Cast: Geroge Clooney ("Harry Pfarrer"), Francis McDormand ("Linda Litzke"), John Malkovich ("Osbourne Cox"), Tilda Swinton ("Katie Cox"), Brad Pitt ("Chad Feldheimer")
Review: Osbourne Cox, a CIA analyst, gets fired because he has a drinking problem. His wife, Katie, is secretly cheating on him with Harry Pfarrer, a guy he hates. Mrs. cox has been unhappy in her marriage for a long time and so she goes to a divorce lawyer who tells her to find out how much money her husband has, because he doesn't want to go into divorce unprepared. Katie sends most of her husband's files to her lawyer's secretary who looses the disk at Hardbodies, her gym. That's were Linda Litzke and Chad Feldheimer find the disk and want to blackmail Osbourne Cox. His reaction is a little different than they expected because instead of being afraid of waht might happen if Linda and Chad sell the disk, he yells and screams and tells them to go fuck themselves. He nevertheless agress to meet with them only to scream at Chad again and to hit him in the face. Linda then wants to sell the files to the Russians, but they don't seem to be interested in them. When Chad goes to Osbourne's house to steal some more files he is surprised by Harry who came to the house to take a shower. Unfortunately for Chad Harry has a gun...
"Burn After Reading" is a Coen classic. It's funny in a very weird way, extremely clever and with some amazing plot twists and it has a spectacular cast. Pitt's portrayal of Chad, a slightly metrosexual and out-of -his-mind crazy fitness coach is both hilarious and outstanding.
All the other cast members do a terrific job as well and there is nothing to critize about the acting.
Unfortunately my expectations were slightly different. I don't really know what I hoped for, but I certainly was disapointed when I left the cinema. The story is funny and entertaining and there are no flaws in it whatsoever. I did laugh a lot and I also enjoyed the dialogue.
But it still felt like there was something missing. I had the same feeling when I watched "Oh Brother, where art thou?". I didn't really like it for no apparent reason.
I'm sorry that I cannot put my dislikes into words.
7.8 out of 10 weird espionage movies
Director: Ethan and Joel Coen
Cast: Geroge Clooney ("Harry Pfarrer"), Francis McDormand ("Linda Litzke"), John Malkovich ("Osbourne Cox"), Tilda Swinton ("Katie Cox"), Brad Pitt ("Chad Feldheimer")
Review: Osbourne Cox, a CIA analyst, gets fired because he has a drinking problem. His wife, Katie, is secretly cheating on him with Harry Pfarrer, a guy he hates. Mrs. cox has been unhappy in her marriage for a long time and so she goes to a divorce lawyer who tells her to find out how much money her husband has, because he doesn't want to go into divorce unprepared. Katie sends most of her husband's files to her lawyer's secretary who looses the disk at Hardbodies, her gym. That's were Linda Litzke and Chad Feldheimer find the disk and want to blackmail Osbourne Cox. His reaction is a little different than they expected because instead of being afraid of waht might happen if Linda and Chad sell the disk, he yells and screams and tells them to go fuck themselves. He nevertheless agress to meet with them only to scream at Chad again and to hit him in the face. Linda then wants to sell the files to the Russians, but they don't seem to be interested in them. When Chad goes to Osbourne's house to steal some more files he is surprised by Harry who came to the house to take a shower. Unfortunately for Chad Harry has a gun...
"Burn After Reading" is a Coen classic. It's funny in a very weird way, extremely clever and with some amazing plot twists and it has a spectacular cast. Pitt's portrayal of Chad, a slightly metrosexual and out-of -his-mind crazy fitness coach is both hilarious and outstanding.
All the other cast members do a terrific job as well and there is nothing to critize about the acting.
Unfortunately my expectations were slightly different. I don't really know what I hoped for, but I certainly was disapointed when I left the cinema. The story is funny and entertaining and there are no flaws in it whatsoever. I did laugh a lot and I also enjoyed the dialogue.
But it still felt like there was something missing. I had the same feeling when I watched "Oh Brother, where art thou?". I didn't really like it for no apparent reason.
I'm sorry that I cannot put my dislikes into words.
7.8 out of 10 weird espionage movies
Dienstag, 30. September 2008
#27
London to Brighton
Director: Paul Andrew Williams
Cast: Lorraine Stanley ("Kelly"), Johnny Harris ("Dereck"), Georgia Groome ("Joanne"), Sam Spruell ("Stuart Allen")
Review: Kelly and Joanne are on the run. Kelly has a bruised eye and Joanne is crying. Joanne is 12. They're running away from Dereck, Kelly's pimp. He needed a young girl for one of his clients and so Kelly took Joanne off the street and convinced her to go "play" with an older man for 100 quid. They get on a train to Brighton to hide from Dereck. When Kelly works the streets of Brighton to get money for another train, Dereck gets a visits from Stuart Allen. He seems to be very angry and wants Dereck to find Kelly and Joanne. Dereck finds them eventually and once he is in Brighton he takes them hostage and waits for further instructions.
I bought "London to Brighton", because I wanted to get to know the contemporary British film. Apart from the Spanish and sometimes the French film, the British film is supposed to be the best in Europe.
"London to Brighton" emphasises this propostion. I didn't really know what to expect, so I just went for it. Director Paul Andrew Williams first feature is surprisingly good, but also shoking. The way prostitution and paedophilia is shown here is remarkably realistic which is the reason for the viewer's shock.
Joanne, a 12-year-old, smokes, claims to have had sex before, lives on the street and tries to be tough, even though you quickly find out that she still is a 12-year-old girl.
Kelly doesn't seem to know anything except prostitution, although she is quite a good soul.
Derek seems to be a living cliché: He is brutal, he swears constantly and doesn't care for anybody than himself.
Stuart Allen is the mysterious character in this drama. He reminds me a little of Tony Soprano, only being active when it is absolutely necessary. He is a cold man with no visual emotions.
The pictures of the movie are strong and also disturbing and therefore Paul Andrew Williams deserves the credit he got from the critics in Britain.
"London to Brighton" is a quiet yet strong movie with good actors and a more than solidly told story and a surprising twist at the end.
7.7 out of 10 grown-up acting runaway girls
Director: Paul Andrew Williams
Cast: Lorraine Stanley ("Kelly"), Johnny Harris ("Dereck"), Georgia Groome ("Joanne"), Sam Spruell ("Stuart Allen")
Review: Kelly and Joanne are on the run. Kelly has a bruised eye and Joanne is crying. Joanne is 12. They're running away from Dereck, Kelly's pimp. He needed a young girl for one of his clients and so Kelly took Joanne off the street and convinced her to go "play" with an older man for 100 quid. They get on a train to Brighton to hide from Dereck. When Kelly works the streets of Brighton to get money for another train, Dereck gets a visits from Stuart Allen. He seems to be very angry and wants Dereck to find Kelly and Joanne. Dereck finds them eventually and once he is in Brighton he takes them hostage and waits for further instructions.
I bought "London to Brighton", because I wanted to get to know the contemporary British film. Apart from the Spanish and sometimes the French film, the British film is supposed to be the best in Europe.
"London to Brighton" emphasises this propostion. I didn't really know what to expect, so I just went for it. Director Paul Andrew Williams first feature is surprisingly good, but also shoking. The way prostitution and paedophilia is shown here is remarkably realistic which is the reason for the viewer's shock.
Joanne, a 12-year-old, smokes, claims to have had sex before, lives on the street and tries to be tough, even though you quickly find out that she still is a 12-year-old girl.
Kelly doesn't seem to know anything except prostitution, although she is quite a good soul.
Derek seems to be a living cliché: He is brutal, he swears constantly and doesn't care for anybody than himself.
Stuart Allen is the mysterious character in this drama. He reminds me a little of Tony Soprano, only being active when it is absolutely necessary. He is a cold man with no visual emotions.
The pictures of the movie are strong and also disturbing and therefore Paul Andrew Williams deserves the credit he got from the critics in Britain.
"London to Brighton" is a quiet yet strong movie with good actors and a more than solidly told story and a surprising twist at the end.
7.7 out of 10 grown-up acting runaway girls
Montag, 29. September 2008
#26.5
For everybody who is interested in how a great artist makes great music check this out:
And as long as I'm posting music vids I will also show you this:
The second song that Schuyler performs is my personal favourite!
Have fun
And as long as I'm posting music vids I will also show you this:
The second song that Schuyler performs is my personal favourite!
Have fun
Donnerstag, 25. September 2008
#26
One Night at McCools
Director: Harald Zwart
Cast: Matt Dillon ("Randy"), John Goodman ("Detective Dehling"), Paul Reiser ("Carl Harding"), Michael Douglas ("Mr Burmeister"), Liv Tyler ("Jewel Valentine")
Review: We meet a guy named Randy, who works at a bar, when he walks into a bingo place to meet a man named Burmeister. Randy sits down at his table and starts to tell him a story about a woman recently met and lived together with. He tells him the story of how they shot her ex and robbed several houses so that she can fix Randy's house.
Than we jump to another scenery. We're in a shrink's practice where another guy, Carl, tells the shrink the story of a woman he met. She is his cousin's girlfriend and he fell for her the first time he saw her. She made a move at him at a barbecue at his house and they ended up having bondage sex.
We jump yet to another place. Now we're at a church, where Det. Dehling tells his friend Father Jimmy about this woman he met during an investigation who looks just like his dead wife. He tells the Father that he filed a restraining order against the woman's husband because he was hitting her and that he found out that the husband killed a man.
They obviously talk about the same woman: Jewel. They're all in love with her but she only wants to find a house that she can make look like the house she's been dreaming about forever and so she sleeps with every man who has a house to get it.
But actually she sleeps with every guy that could do her a favour. And so she ends up sleeping with Randy and steals his house, his cousin and wants him to help her keep it, and with Det. Dehling to make sure that Randy is going to jail.
Everything seems to be working out, but Mr Burmeister is a killer and randy hires him to kill Jewel. At the same time, Carl and the detective both are at Jewel's house to surprise her. Carl is all b0ondaged up in her bedroom and the detective is preparing a romantic dinner when they see each other. Then Randy joins the grotesque scene asking them what they're doing. To top it all Utah's twin brother steps into the house to take revenge on his brother's death....
"One Night at McCool's" is a bitterly black comedy with a funny plot and solid actors. The idea of telling the story from various perspectives makes it both funny and a little bit grotesque. Everyone describes himself, of course, better than the others and has a slightly different view on everything, but they all love the same woman. It's like "There's something about Mary' with a way hotter female character and with another level of idiocy. Unfortunately there is nothing really new and surprising and the acting is no more than solid, except for Michael Douglas as a sex-possesed killer.
Normaly I'd give the movie a 7.1 - 7.3, but since Liv Tyler is even hotter as a redhead we are at a
7.6 out of 10 using-sex-as-a-weapon-sluts
Director: Harald Zwart
Cast: Matt Dillon ("Randy"), John Goodman ("Detective Dehling"), Paul Reiser ("Carl Harding"), Michael Douglas ("Mr Burmeister"), Liv Tyler ("Jewel Valentine")
Review: We meet a guy named Randy, who works at a bar, when he walks into a bingo place to meet a man named Burmeister. Randy sits down at his table and starts to tell him a story about a woman recently met and lived together with. He tells him the story of how they shot her ex and robbed several houses so that she can fix Randy's house.
Than we jump to another scenery. We're in a shrink's practice where another guy, Carl, tells the shrink the story of a woman he met. She is his cousin's girlfriend and he fell for her the first time he saw her. She made a move at him at a barbecue at his house and they ended up having bondage sex.
We jump yet to another place. Now we're at a church, where Det. Dehling tells his friend Father Jimmy about this woman he met during an investigation who looks just like his dead wife. He tells the Father that he filed a restraining order against the woman's husband because he was hitting her and that he found out that the husband killed a man.
They obviously talk about the same woman: Jewel. They're all in love with her but she only wants to find a house that she can make look like the house she's been dreaming about forever and so she sleeps with every man who has a house to get it.
But actually she sleeps with every guy that could do her a favour. And so she ends up sleeping with Randy and steals his house, his cousin and wants him to help her keep it, and with Det. Dehling to make sure that Randy is going to jail.
Everything seems to be working out, but Mr Burmeister is a killer and randy hires him to kill Jewel. At the same time, Carl and the detective both are at Jewel's house to surprise her. Carl is all b0ondaged up in her bedroom and the detective is preparing a romantic dinner when they see each other. Then Randy joins the grotesque scene asking them what they're doing. To top it all Utah's twin brother steps into the house to take revenge on his brother's death....
"One Night at McCool's" is a bitterly black comedy with a funny plot and solid actors. The idea of telling the story from various perspectives makes it both funny and a little bit grotesque. Everyone describes himself, of course, better than the others and has a slightly different view on everything, but they all love the same woman. It's like "There's something about Mary' with a way hotter female character and with another level of idiocy. Unfortunately there is nothing really new and surprising and the acting is no more than solid, except for Michael Douglas as a sex-possesed killer.
Normaly I'd give the movie a 7.1 - 7.3, but since Liv Tyler is even hotter as a redhead we are at a
7.6 out of 10 using-sex-as-a-weapon-sluts
Freitag, 19. September 2008
#25,5
I have not been able to watch another movie for a week! which is kind of sad. I'm trying though. :-)
But I finished Six feet under yesterday and I was devastated. But in a good way. I've never been touched be a TV-show like this before. It was a perfect show and a perfect finale. But it surely makes your eyes watery and have a lump in your throat.
I'm planing on writng a review about the show in general sometime, but I haven't decided yet if i want to watch it again before I do so.
Just wanted to give an update. I'm really stressed by trying to get to start my term paper so I can't get myself to watch a movie. Let's just wait and see.
Farewell!
If you feel like you want to go on a holiday you should watch this video and close your eyes!
But I finished Six feet under yesterday and I was devastated. But in a good way. I've never been touched be a TV-show like this before. It was a perfect show and a perfect finale. But it surely makes your eyes watery and have a lump in your throat.
I'm planing on writng a review about the show in general sometime, but I haven't decided yet if i want to watch it again before I do so.
Just wanted to give an update. I'm really stressed by trying to get to start my term paper so I can't get myself to watch a movie. Let's just wait and see.
Farewell!
If you feel like you want to go on a holiday you should watch this video and close your eyes!
Donnerstag, 11. September 2008
#25
What a game that was yesterday evening. Germany v Finland 3:3!
Miroslav Klose is finally scoring again. I hope that'll keep going on Saturday in the Bundesliga. But that's not why I'm writing here, is it?
So: Here. We. Go.
Natural Born Killers
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Woody Harrelson ("Mickey Knox"), Juliette Lewis ("Mallory Knox"), Tom Sizemore ("Det. Jack Scagnetti"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Mayne Gale"), Tommy Lee Jones ("Warden Dwight McClusky")
Review: Mickey and Mallory Knox are killers. Mass murderers. They met, fell in love and started killing people. Their first victims were Mallory's parents. Her Dad abused her ever since she was a child and her mother dared to help her. They start out to travel the country and wherever they go they kill people and let only one person live to tell their story.
But when they drive through the desert and get lost they stumble across an Indian living in a small hut. They both fall asleep in front of the fire, but Mickey has a nightmare and shoots the Indian. Mallory freaks out, because in her eyes the Indian was their friend who did nothing wrong. She runs out into the desert but gets bitten by a snake. When Mickey tries to help her he gets bitten as well. They manage to drive to a drugstore, but they are out of antidote. When the employee recognizes Mickey he calls the cops. Mickey kills the employee and tells Mallory to wait out by the car, but when she gets out the police is already there and they take her into custody. Mickey can't fight them off and is taken in as well.
One year later, Wayne Gale, the host of the TV show American Maniacs who has already made an episode about Mickey and Mallory, visits Mickey in prison. the Knox's are about to be transferred to an asylum to be "reconfigured". Gale wants to interview Mickey again and Mickey accepts. They air live after the Super Bowl. In the middle of the interview a riot starts in the prison and the mentally instabile warden McCLusky orders his men to stay with Mickey and goes to help stop the riot.
At the same time Det. Jack Scagnetti, the detective who took Mickey and Mallory in, is in Mallory's cell to talk to her and to have sex with her, but Mallory starts to kick the shit out of him and can only be stopped by two guards who waited outside the cell.
Mickey manages to escape his guards and takes Gale and his crew to Mallory's cell where they kill Scagnetti and try to flee. The guards aren't able to control the prisoners and so Mickey, Mallory and the TV crew make it through the prison with the help of Owen, another prisoner who knows some secret passages. They fight their way towards the gate of the prison with the help of Gale who feels alive after shooting some of the guards himself. Near the gate they're cut off but McClusky and his men, but they can escape anyway. The warden and his men are left to deal with the rest of the prisoners.
Mickey, Mallory and Gale escape with a broadcast van and end up in the woods where Gale finishes his story. But instead of going with the Knox's they shoot him and escape to lead a normal life.
"Natural Born Killers" is a disturbing and intense movie. The story is always highlighted by images of other movies, cartoon versions of what is happening and different red and green filters. This makes it even more intense and creates an unique atmosphere.
The violence is shown explicitly yet it is never used just to show violence. It always seems to be some sort of superior art object. It's bloody but no splatter.
The performances of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as the psychotic couple is very intense as well and they both show a certain amount of mental illness within their performance.
The rest of the cast, namely Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones, are as convincing and crazy as Harrelson and Lewis. Downey Jr.'s portay of the viewer ratings obsessed Wayne Gale is hilarious and brilliant. He screams, he swears and he changes throughout the riot in a way that hasn't been before that often.
I have never seen Tommy Lee Jones portraying someone this intense before. He swears as Downey Jr. does and he spits while he screams and he gets into a rage that was new for me as a fan of Lee Jones.
So to conclude, "Natural Born Killers" is a challenge for the viewer to watch, but once you get into the southern accent and the way the movie is made, with all the different images you see, you will either like it or turn it off after half an hour. I did enjoy it!
8.0 out of 10 bloody murders
Miroslav Klose is finally scoring again. I hope that'll keep going on Saturday in the Bundesliga. But that's not why I'm writing here, is it?
So: Here. We. Go.
Natural Born Killers
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Woody Harrelson ("Mickey Knox"), Juliette Lewis ("Mallory Knox"), Tom Sizemore ("Det. Jack Scagnetti"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Mayne Gale"), Tommy Lee Jones ("Warden Dwight McClusky")
Review: Mickey and Mallory Knox are killers. Mass murderers. They met, fell in love and started killing people. Their first victims were Mallory's parents. Her Dad abused her ever since she was a child and her mother dared to help her. They start out to travel the country and wherever they go they kill people and let only one person live to tell their story.
But when they drive through the desert and get lost they stumble across an Indian living in a small hut. They both fall asleep in front of the fire, but Mickey has a nightmare and shoots the Indian. Mallory freaks out, because in her eyes the Indian was their friend who did nothing wrong. She runs out into the desert but gets bitten by a snake. When Mickey tries to help her he gets bitten as well. They manage to drive to a drugstore, but they are out of antidote. When the employee recognizes Mickey he calls the cops. Mickey kills the employee and tells Mallory to wait out by the car, but when she gets out the police is already there and they take her into custody. Mickey can't fight them off and is taken in as well.
One year later, Wayne Gale, the host of the TV show American Maniacs who has already made an episode about Mickey and Mallory, visits Mickey in prison. the Knox's are about to be transferred to an asylum to be "reconfigured". Gale wants to interview Mickey again and Mickey accepts. They air live after the Super Bowl. In the middle of the interview a riot starts in the prison and the mentally instabile warden McCLusky orders his men to stay with Mickey and goes to help stop the riot.
At the same time Det. Jack Scagnetti, the detective who took Mickey and Mallory in, is in Mallory's cell to talk to her and to have sex with her, but Mallory starts to kick the shit out of him and can only be stopped by two guards who waited outside the cell.
Mickey manages to escape his guards and takes Gale and his crew to Mallory's cell where they kill Scagnetti and try to flee. The guards aren't able to control the prisoners and so Mickey, Mallory and the TV crew make it through the prison with the help of Owen, another prisoner who knows some secret passages. They fight their way towards the gate of the prison with the help of Gale who feels alive after shooting some of the guards himself. Near the gate they're cut off but McClusky and his men, but they can escape anyway. The warden and his men are left to deal with the rest of the prisoners.
Mickey, Mallory and Gale escape with a broadcast van and end up in the woods where Gale finishes his story. But instead of going with the Knox's they shoot him and escape to lead a normal life.
"Natural Born Killers" is a disturbing and intense movie. The story is always highlighted by images of other movies, cartoon versions of what is happening and different red and green filters. This makes it even more intense and creates an unique atmosphere.
The violence is shown explicitly yet it is never used just to show violence. It always seems to be some sort of superior art object. It's bloody but no splatter.
The performances of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as the psychotic couple is very intense as well and they both show a certain amount of mental illness within their performance.
The rest of the cast, namely Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones, are as convincing and crazy as Harrelson and Lewis. Downey Jr.'s portay of the viewer ratings obsessed Wayne Gale is hilarious and brilliant. He screams, he swears and he changes throughout the riot in a way that hasn't been before that often.
I have never seen Tommy Lee Jones portraying someone this intense before. He swears as Downey Jr. does and he spits while he screams and he gets into a rage that was new for me as a fan of Lee Jones.
So to conclude, "Natural Born Killers" is a challenge for the viewer to watch, but once you get into the southern accent and the way the movie is made, with all the different images you see, you will either like it or turn it off after half an hour. I did enjoy it!
8.0 out of 10 bloody murders
Mittwoch, 10. September 2008
#24
So I finally get to watch "The Dark Knight" again. And this time in English.
So without further ado:
The Dark Knight
BE WARNED BEFORE YOU READ THIS: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW!
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale ("Bruce Wayne/Batman"), Heath Ledger ("The Joker"), Aaron Eckhart ("Harvey Dent/ Two-Face"), Maggie Gyllenhaal ("Rachel Dawes"), Gary Oldman ("Det. Lt. James Gordon")
Review: A year has passed since Batman has freed Gothma City from "Scarecrow". But in this time Batman has gone from hero to being disliked and feared. He still is trying to support Det. Lt. Gordon to catch the mobster of the city, but there are impersonaters now, who don't fight for the good cause. But a bigger problem has occured: A villain named "The Joker". He kills and robbs for no apparent reason. He just wants a better class of criminals and, most of all, to unmask Batman. When The Joker makes a deal with the crime syndicaat of Gotham City Batman faces his biggest challenge yet. To make Batman show who he really is, The Joker threatens to kill people each day that Batman doesn't show himself. And he starts by killing a judge and the police commissioner. But this time Batman has another ally: District Attorney Harvey Dent, the shining knight of Gotham. They even manage to take The Joker into custody, but he gets away and even manages to kidnap Harvey and his girlfriend Rachel, who has been Bruce Wayne's girlfriend before. The Joker threatens to blow them up and since they are in two different buildings, only one can be saved. So Batman goes to safe Rachel and Gordon tries to save Harvey Dent. When Batman arrives at the destination he has to find out that The Joker lied to him because he is at the house where Harvey Dent is tied up. Batman manages to save Harvey, but Rachel dies in an explosion. The house where Batman saved Harvey is blown up as well and the explosion ignites the oil on Harvey's face which burns his flesh to the bones.
The day after that The Joker has planted bombs on every bridge that leads out of Gotham and threatens to blow up a hospital and after that he wants to blow up more buildings. So the whole city tries to escape with ferries, but when the ferries have set off the engines stop and The Joker tells the people that he is going to blow up two off the ferries at midnight. Until then the people on board of each ferry, normal citizens on one of the ferries and prisoners on the other, have the trigger for the bomb on the other ferry. So whoever pulls the trigger first survives.
The Joker is watching all this from a nearby building. When Batman arrives at the building and manages to get to The Joker the time is up, but both ferries are not blown up, because neither of the two were able to pull the trigger. But before The Joker can pull his trigger Batman can overpower and stop him. But The Joker has another ace up his sleeve: He went to talk to Harvey in the hospital and told him that the police were responsible for Rachel's death and that he can't save Gotham. So Harvey becomes Two-Face and wants his revenge. Therefore he kidnaps Gordon's family and threatens to kill them. When Gordon arrives at the place where Harvey holds his family hostage, the same building where Rachel died, he has to choose which one of the family will die. Two-Face takes Gordon's son to kill him but Batman appears and can fight Two-Face off. Two-face falls down the building and dies. When Gordon and Batman talk about what to do, Batman tells Gordon that he should blame him for all the chaos, so that Harvey can be remembered a hero and give people hope.
Batman turns into a "Dark Knight".
Nolan's second movie of the new Batman era is propably the best movie I've seen so far this year. Everything seems to be perfect here. The effects are very impressive, but they never feel unreal. An explosion looks like an explosion and not like a chinese firework.
Hans Zimmer's soundtrack is good, yet it kind of sounds like "The Rock". But that's a Hans Zimmer problem. ever since "The Rock" most of his soundtracks sounded alike, which is not really bad, but getting boring.
The plot is the real strength of "The Dark Knight". What I wrote above is only about one third of what actually happens. A real synopsis would be much longer. There are a lot of twists and spectacular scenes in the 151 minutes which make the movie thrilling and exciting the whole time. The Nolan brothers really made a perfect job on the script.
The other big strength is the cast:
Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Michael Cane, Gary Oldman and Maggie Gyllenhaal are all very good and talented actors and all of their performances are very good to extraordinary, but Heath Ledger is the most outstanding actor in the movie.
His version of The Joker is brilliant. Beginning with his make-up over his facial expression to his his body language. Everything seems to fit perfectly. You really believe that he is mentally ill yet a mastermind. What always bugged me about Ledger was he constan mumbling, but even this he can control in "The Dark Knight" which makes him a very promising candidate for the "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar in 2009.
I've been struggling back and forth whether or not "The Dark Knight" deserves a rating of 9.4 or higher to become one of the best movies that I've ever seen. I still don't really know if it is the right choice, but I'm going to give it:
9.4 out of 10 crazy laughs
This makes "The Dark Knight" the second best movie that I've rated so far and it enters my personal "Top 10" of the best movies ever.
So without further ado:
The Dark Knight
BE WARNED BEFORE YOU READ THIS: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW!
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale ("Bruce Wayne/Batman"), Heath Ledger ("The Joker"), Aaron Eckhart ("Harvey Dent/ Two-Face"), Maggie Gyllenhaal ("Rachel Dawes"), Gary Oldman ("Det. Lt. James Gordon")
Review: A year has passed since Batman has freed Gothma City from "Scarecrow". But in this time Batman has gone from hero to being disliked and feared. He still is trying to support Det. Lt. Gordon to catch the mobster of the city, but there are impersonaters now, who don't fight for the good cause. But a bigger problem has occured: A villain named "The Joker". He kills and robbs for no apparent reason. He just wants a better class of criminals and, most of all, to unmask Batman. When The Joker makes a deal with the crime syndicaat of Gotham City Batman faces his biggest challenge yet. To make Batman show who he really is, The Joker threatens to kill people each day that Batman doesn't show himself. And he starts by killing a judge and the police commissioner. But this time Batman has another ally: District Attorney Harvey Dent, the shining knight of Gotham. They even manage to take The Joker into custody, but he gets away and even manages to kidnap Harvey and his girlfriend Rachel, who has been Bruce Wayne's girlfriend before. The Joker threatens to blow them up and since they are in two different buildings, only one can be saved. So Batman goes to safe Rachel and Gordon tries to save Harvey Dent. When Batman arrives at the destination he has to find out that The Joker lied to him because he is at the house where Harvey Dent is tied up. Batman manages to save Harvey, but Rachel dies in an explosion. The house where Batman saved Harvey is blown up as well and the explosion ignites the oil on Harvey's face which burns his flesh to the bones.
The day after that The Joker has planted bombs on every bridge that leads out of Gotham and threatens to blow up a hospital and after that he wants to blow up more buildings. So the whole city tries to escape with ferries, but when the ferries have set off the engines stop and The Joker tells the people that he is going to blow up two off the ferries at midnight. Until then the people on board of each ferry, normal citizens on one of the ferries and prisoners on the other, have the trigger for the bomb on the other ferry. So whoever pulls the trigger first survives.
The Joker is watching all this from a nearby building. When Batman arrives at the building and manages to get to The Joker the time is up, but both ferries are not blown up, because neither of the two were able to pull the trigger. But before The Joker can pull his trigger Batman can overpower and stop him. But The Joker has another ace up his sleeve: He went to talk to Harvey in the hospital and told him that the police were responsible for Rachel's death and that he can't save Gotham. So Harvey becomes Two-Face and wants his revenge. Therefore he kidnaps Gordon's family and threatens to kill them. When Gordon arrives at the place where Harvey holds his family hostage, the same building where Rachel died, he has to choose which one of the family will die. Two-Face takes Gordon's son to kill him but Batman appears and can fight Two-Face off. Two-face falls down the building and dies. When Gordon and Batman talk about what to do, Batman tells Gordon that he should blame him for all the chaos, so that Harvey can be remembered a hero and give people hope.
Batman turns into a "Dark Knight".
Nolan's second movie of the new Batman era is propably the best movie I've seen so far this year. Everything seems to be perfect here. The effects are very impressive, but they never feel unreal. An explosion looks like an explosion and not like a chinese firework.
Hans Zimmer's soundtrack is good, yet it kind of sounds like "The Rock". But that's a Hans Zimmer problem. ever since "The Rock" most of his soundtracks sounded alike, which is not really bad, but getting boring.
The plot is the real strength of "The Dark Knight". What I wrote above is only about one third of what actually happens. A real synopsis would be much longer. There are a lot of twists and spectacular scenes in the 151 minutes which make the movie thrilling and exciting the whole time. The Nolan brothers really made a perfect job on the script.
The other big strength is the cast:
Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Michael Cane, Gary Oldman and Maggie Gyllenhaal are all very good and talented actors and all of their performances are very good to extraordinary, but Heath Ledger is the most outstanding actor in the movie.
His version of The Joker is brilliant. Beginning with his make-up over his facial expression to his his body language. Everything seems to fit perfectly. You really believe that he is mentally ill yet a mastermind. What always bugged me about Ledger was he constan mumbling, but even this he can control in "The Dark Knight" which makes him a very promising candidate for the "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar in 2009.
I've been struggling back and forth whether or not "The Dark Knight" deserves a rating of 9.4 or higher to become one of the best movies that I've ever seen. I still don't really know if it is the right choice, but I'm going to give it:
9.4 out of 10 crazy laughs
This makes "The Dark Knight" the second best movie that I've rated so far and it enters my personal "Top 10" of the best movies ever.
Montag, 8. September 2008
#23
So it's Sunday evening. Yesterday Germany defeated Liechtenstein 6:0 in very good and entertaining match. Lukas podolski seems to get his right form. Let's see if they can keep it up on Wednesday against Finland.
Ever since I was a child I was always very good at daydreaming. That's propably the reason why I like movies so much, because they give you the chance to dream and fantazise about a world you may never get into but want to get in really bad.
And tonight I watched a movie that might be described as a chick flick but I would describe this kind of movies as sentimental drama and I love these movies, because they always make you end up in a very emotional place and that's what I need from time to time.
So here we go:
Anywhere but here
Trailer
Director: Wayne Wang
Cast: Susan Sarandon ("Adele August"), Natalie Portman ("Ann August"), Shawn Hatosy ("Benny"), Corbin Allred ("Peter")
Review: It's not easy to be a teenager. Especially not when your Dad has left and your mother doesn't want to life in small-town Wisconsin.
That's Ann's life. Her mother, Adele, is a very ambitous woman who leaves her second husband, because she's bored in Bay City, Wisconsin. She decides to move to Los Angeles with her fifteen-year-old daughter Ann to have an easy and successful life. But Ann doesn't like the idea from the beginning. She likes Bay City, because her stepdad, her grandmother and her best friend Benny live there. So she's reluctant to go, but she has to. When they finally are in L.A. they rent a small apartment and try to live a normal life in California. Unfortunately it doesn't work out, because Adele's job as a teacher is in a rather bad neighbourhood and Ann misses her friends and family very much. But when her best friend Benny visits them she feels a lot better and even Adele is beginning to have some luck. She meets a young man who takes her out to dinner and spends the night with her. But then everything turns around. Adele's new love turns out to be an asshole who just wanted to sleep with her and then they a call. Ann's grandma had a stoke and Benny got killed in a car accident. And things get even worse. Back in Bay City for the funeral, Adele quarrels with her brother and Ann, who wanted to catch up with her father for so long, calls him and finds out that he doesn't want to have contact. So the two are devastated.
While Adele is still unemployed she sends Ann to an audition because she always wanted her daugther to be an actress. When she sneaks in at the audition she sees Ann playing her mother. This is the point when Adele realizes that Ann doesn't like her life.
A couple of days later Ann gets a phone call from one of the boys from her class. He has been trying to date Ann ever he has first seen her and tells her that he wants to kiss her.
So she invites him over and asks him to undress. When he is in his boxers he tells her again that he wants to kiss her and lets him. They kiss and hug each other and Ann cries, for this is the first time since Benny died that she is being comforted by anybody.
Two years later.
Adele is working at a nursing home. Ann works at a grocery store as a bagger after school and she has applied to Brown University behind her mothers back. When Adele finds a letter from Brown in her mail she opens it. Ann comes home and finds the opened envelope. Adele tells her that she should read because she will surely be happy, but Adele hasn't read the entire letter, because Brown only pays for half the tuition and the rest has to be paid by Ann and Adele.
Ann is devastated again, but the next day when she comes home Adele hass sold their Mercedes so that Ann can go to Brown.
"Anywhere but Here" is, in my eyes, one of the more underrated movies of the late 90's. It may be slow in plot development and the story in general might seem trivial, but it is not trivial in any way. The story is about the struggles of parents to let their children go when they grow up. It's about realizing that you don't own your child and about the difficulties you have when you're a child and can't make your own choices because your parents won't let you.
The strength of "Anywhere but Here" is definitely the cast. Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman are both very strong and expressive women who make you feel what they want you to feel. Sarandon embodies the role of the overly possessive mother perfectly. Her presence is perceptible throughout the whole movie and her expression us very good.
Natalie Portman will always have a bonus with me. I just love her as an actress. She is blessed with so much talent and emotions and in addition to that she is one of the most beautiful and smartest young actress worldwide. When she feels pain in a movie, you feel pain as well. When she cries, you want to cry either. And when she smiles or even laughs, you never want to see another smile again. She has a magnetic aura and she always makes me feel warm and happy.
And all of this occurs in this movie. Therefore the movie is carried by both, Sarandon and Portman.
It made me feel like I was on an emotional trip and that's always a good thing.
Even though everything is perfect when it comes to the cast of "Anywhere but Here" there are some flaws:
1.The film only lives from the two female leads and this makes the other characters seem a little bit out of place.
2. There is no real explanation why Bay City is so boring. Adele justs leaves her home, because she wants to live in Beverly Hills. Why this is the case is never really explained.
Nevertheless is "Anywhere but Here" a nicely calm and yet still emotional film about mothers and daughters.
7,9 out of 10 lovely young actresses
Ever since I was a child I was always very good at daydreaming. That's propably the reason why I like movies so much, because they give you the chance to dream and fantazise about a world you may never get into but want to get in really bad.
And tonight I watched a movie that might be described as a chick flick but I would describe this kind of movies as sentimental drama and I love these movies, because they always make you end up in a very emotional place and that's what I need from time to time.
So here we go:
Anywhere but here
Trailer
Director: Wayne Wang
Cast: Susan Sarandon ("Adele August"), Natalie Portman ("Ann August"), Shawn Hatosy ("Benny"), Corbin Allred ("Peter")
Review: It's not easy to be a teenager. Especially not when your Dad has left and your mother doesn't want to life in small-town Wisconsin.
That's Ann's life. Her mother, Adele, is a very ambitous woman who leaves her second husband, because she's bored in Bay City, Wisconsin. She decides to move to Los Angeles with her fifteen-year-old daughter Ann to have an easy and successful life. But Ann doesn't like the idea from the beginning. She likes Bay City, because her stepdad, her grandmother and her best friend Benny live there. So she's reluctant to go, but she has to. When they finally are in L.A. they rent a small apartment and try to live a normal life in California. Unfortunately it doesn't work out, because Adele's job as a teacher is in a rather bad neighbourhood and Ann misses her friends and family very much. But when her best friend Benny visits them she feels a lot better and even Adele is beginning to have some luck. She meets a young man who takes her out to dinner and spends the night with her. But then everything turns around. Adele's new love turns out to be an asshole who just wanted to sleep with her and then they a call. Ann's grandma had a stoke and Benny got killed in a car accident. And things get even worse. Back in Bay City for the funeral, Adele quarrels with her brother and Ann, who wanted to catch up with her father for so long, calls him and finds out that he doesn't want to have contact. So the two are devastated.
While Adele is still unemployed she sends Ann to an audition because she always wanted her daugther to be an actress. When she sneaks in at the audition she sees Ann playing her mother. This is the point when Adele realizes that Ann doesn't like her life.
A couple of days later Ann gets a phone call from one of the boys from her class. He has been trying to date Ann ever he has first seen her and tells her that he wants to kiss her.
So she invites him over and asks him to undress. When he is in his boxers he tells her again that he wants to kiss her and lets him. They kiss and hug each other and Ann cries, for this is the first time since Benny died that she is being comforted by anybody.
Two years later.
Adele is working at a nursing home. Ann works at a grocery store as a bagger after school and she has applied to Brown University behind her mothers back. When Adele finds a letter from Brown in her mail she opens it. Ann comes home and finds the opened envelope. Adele tells her that she should read because she will surely be happy, but Adele hasn't read the entire letter, because Brown only pays for half the tuition and the rest has to be paid by Ann and Adele.
Ann is devastated again, but the next day when she comes home Adele hass sold their Mercedes so that Ann can go to Brown.
"Anywhere but Here" is, in my eyes, one of the more underrated movies of the late 90's. It may be slow in plot development and the story in general might seem trivial, but it is not trivial in any way. The story is about the struggles of parents to let their children go when they grow up. It's about realizing that you don't own your child and about the difficulties you have when you're a child and can't make your own choices because your parents won't let you.
The strength of "Anywhere but Here" is definitely the cast. Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman are both very strong and expressive women who make you feel what they want you to feel. Sarandon embodies the role of the overly possessive mother perfectly. Her presence is perceptible throughout the whole movie and her expression us very good.
Natalie Portman will always have a bonus with me. I just love her as an actress. She is blessed with so much talent and emotions and in addition to that she is one of the most beautiful and smartest young actress worldwide. When she feels pain in a movie, you feel pain as well. When she cries, you want to cry either. And when she smiles or even laughs, you never want to see another smile again. She has a magnetic aura and she always makes me feel warm and happy.
And all of this occurs in this movie. Therefore the movie is carried by both, Sarandon and Portman.
It made me feel like I was on an emotional trip and that's always a good thing.
Even though everything is perfect when it comes to the cast of "Anywhere but Here" there are some flaws:
1.The film only lives from the two female leads and this makes the other characters seem a little bit out of place.
2. There is no real explanation why Bay City is so boring. Adele justs leaves her home, because she wants to live in Beverly Hills. Why this is the case is never really explained.
Nevertheless is "Anywhere but Here" a nicely calm and yet still emotional film about mothers and daughters.
7,9 out of 10 lovely young actresses
Donnerstag, 4. September 2008
#22
Hello everyone. Great news: Dido is going to release her new album in November. I'm really excited because of this. It's been 5 years since "Life for Rent" was released, so I hope "Safe Trip Home" is going to be as good as the first two albums were. And the best thing: If you go to Dido's homepage you will get "Look no Further", one of the tracks on the new album, for free until September 7th. So hurry.
But to get started:
Thank You for Smoking
Director: Jason Reitman ("Juno")
Cast: Aaron Eckhart ("Nick Naylor"), J.K. Simmons ("BR"), William H. Macy ("Senator Ortolan Finistirre"), Katie Holmes ("Heather Holloway"), Cameron Bright ("Joey Naylor"), Robert Duvall ("Captain")
Review: Nick Naylor is a lobyist for the tobacco industry. But he's not just a lobyist. He's the best lobyist. The first time we meet him he is on a talkshow persuading the audience and the rest of the participants of the discussion that the tobacco industry is not happy that a 17-year-old boy is dying of lung cancer, but that they are sad to loose a customer. And he is the clear winner of the discussion. When his son, who lives with his mother and only sees his father on the weekends, asks him why he is such a good lobyist Nick tells him that being good at discussions doesn't mean to be right, but to prove that the other person is wrong.
But the tobacco industry is still in trouble, because the senator of vermont, Ortolan Finistirre, is trying to put pictures of a skull and crossbones on cigarette packets to visualize the danger of smoking. When Nick and the senator are on a TV show a viewers calls and threatens to kill nick within the next week.
Meanwhile Nick is having an affair with Heather Holloway, a reporter of The Washington Globe. She is writing a story about Nick, but since she has "glorious tits" they end up in bed together more than once.
When Nick travels to California to meet with an Hollywood agent to make smoking sexy in movies again, he is called by the Captain, the last tobacco mogul. He tells him that Lorne Lutch, the Malboro Cowboy, is dying of lung cancer and wants Nick to go to him and give him money to shut him up.
Back in Washington, Nick is kidnapped after a weekly lunch with the M.O.D., the merchants of death, a group of lobyists working for the alcohol industy, the firearms industry and the tobacco industry. While his kidnappers tie him up in a van, they pave his body with nicotine patches to kill him, but Nick suvives since he was used to nicotine being in his blood. He was saved by cigarettes, but if he ever smokes again he will most propably die. After he returns from the hospital the article about is published and destroys his career since Holloway used everything Nick told her when they were having sex in her article. He attends the hearing about the pictures on the cigarette packets anyway and outguns Senator Finistirre by saying that if they put visual warnings on cigarettes, they should put visual warnings on the famous Vermont Cheddar Cheese as well, because more Americans die of heart attacks and other cholesterol linked death causes than of smoking.
"Thank You for Smoking" is an ethical dilema. On the one hand you totally symphatize with Nick's work, because he is a smart and charming guy and he is really convincing with words. On the other hand you ask youself if it really is morally ok to try and make the tobacco industry look good, since smoking is dangerous and bad for your health.
But besides from the sides of the moral medal "Thank You for Smoking" is a highly entertaining and funny movie with an interesting statement:
"Do what you love and think about everything yourself. Don't let other people think for you."
And this is the cleverness of the movie. It may have a controversial topic, but it makes you think on your own. And that's what makes good movies.
Apart from this the cast is really good for a movie with such a small budget. ($7,000,000 according to Numbers.) Aaron eckhart might not be the top earner in Hollywood, but he surely is very talented and has a unique presence on camera. William H. Macy and especially Robert Duvall are clearly the stars of the casts and their performances are solid as well, as is the performance of Katie Holmes in one of her last roles since she married Tom Cruise, which is a shame, because I loved Katie from the day I first saw "Dawson's Creek". Holmes has a natural beauty that is rarely found, I can only think of Natalie Portman, and I really like Katie's voice, which makes me feel good for some reason.
Another thing worth mentioning is the look of the movie. Even though everything looks a little bit too clean and perfect it has a very real and bright look.
One point to criticize are the dialoges. Some of them seem a little bit too artificial and sometimes unneccessary.
Nevertheless it can be said that "Thank You for Smoking" is a good, maybe very good, movie with the intention of making people think about the decisions they make in life.
8,3 out of 10 convincing lobyists
But to get started:
Thank You for Smoking
Director: Jason Reitman ("Juno")
Cast: Aaron Eckhart ("Nick Naylor"), J.K. Simmons ("BR"), William H. Macy ("Senator Ortolan Finistirre"), Katie Holmes ("Heather Holloway"), Cameron Bright ("Joey Naylor"), Robert Duvall ("Captain")
Review: Nick Naylor is a lobyist for the tobacco industry. But he's not just a lobyist. He's the best lobyist. The first time we meet him he is on a talkshow persuading the audience and the rest of the participants of the discussion that the tobacco industry is not happy that a 17-year-old boy is dying of lung cancer, but that they are sad to loose a customer. And he is the clear winner of the discussion. When his son, who lives with his mother and only sees his father on the weekends, asks him why he is such a good lobyist Nick tells him that being good at discussions doesn't mean to be right, but to prove that the other person is wrong.
But the tobacco industry is still in trouble, because the senator of vermont, Ortolan Finistirre, is trying to put pictures of a skull and crossbones on cigarette packets to visualize the danger of smoking. When Nick and the senator are on a TV show a viewers calls and threatens to kill nick within the next week.
Meanwhile Nick is having an affair with Heather Holloway, a reporter of The Washington Globe. She is writing a story about Nick, but since she has "glorious tits" they end up in bed together more than once.
When Nick travels to California to meet with an Hollywood agent to make smoking sexy in movies again, he is called by the Captain, the last tobacco mogul. He tells him that Lorne Lutch, the Malboro Cowboy, is dying of lung cancer and wants Nick to go to him and give him money to shut him up.
Back in Washington, Nick is kidnapped after a weekly lunch with the M.O.D., the merchants of death, a group of lobyists working for the alcohol industy, the firearms industry and the tobacco industry. While his kidnappers tie him up in a van, they pave his body with nicotine patches to kill him, but Nick suvives since he was used to nicotine being in his blood. He was saved by cigarettes, but if he ever smokes again he will most propably die. After he returns from the hospital the article about is published and destroys his career since Holloway used everything Nick told her when they were having sex in her article. He attends the hearing about the pictures on the cigarette packets anyway and outguns Senator Finistirre by saying that if they put visual warnings on cigarettes, they should put visual warnings on the famous Vermont Cheddar Cheese as well, because more Americans die of heart attacks and other cholesterol linked death causes than of smoking.
"Thank You for Smoking" is an ethical dilema. On the one hand you totally symphatize with Nick's work, because he is a smart and charming guy and he is really convincing with words. On the other hand you ask youself if it really is morally ok to try and make the tobacco industry look good, since smoking is dangerous and bad for your health.
But besides from the sides of the moral medal "Thank You for Smoking" is a highly entertaining and funny movie with an interesting statement:
"Do what you love and think about everything yourself. Don't let other people think for you."
And this is the cleverness of the movie. It may have a controversial topic, but it makes you think on your own. And that's what makes good movies.
Apart from this the cast is really good for a movie with such a small budget. ($7,000,000 according to Numbers.) Aaron eckhart might not be the top earner in Hollywood, but he surely is very talented and has a unique presence on camera. William H. Macy and especially Robert Duvall are clearly the stars of the casts and their performances are solid as well, as is the performance of Katie Holmes in one of her last roles since she married Tom Cruise, which is a shame, because I loved Katie from the day I first saw "Dawson's Creek". Holmes has a natural beauty that is rarely found, I can only think of Natalie Portman, and I really like Katie's voice, which makes me feel good for some reason.
Another thing worth mentioning is the look of the movie. Even though everything looks a little bit too clean and perfect it has a very real and bright look.
One point to criticize are the dialoges. Some of them seem a little bit too artificial and sometimes unneccessary.
Nevertheless it can be said that "Thank You for Smoking" is a good, maybe very good, movie with the intention of making people think about the decisions they make in life.
8,3 out of 10 convincing lobyists
Montag, 1. September 2008
#21
Hello to all of you!
So this weekend was kinda nice. As usual I watched a lot of football (soccer for all of you Americans). On Friday Mainz 05 won 4:2 and they now are first in the 2. Bundesliga, the best second league worldwide! Then on Sunday Bayern Munich won 4:1 against Hertha BSC Berlin. Their first victory in the Bundesliga since Jürgen Klinsmann is head coach. It was a very good and entertaining match with two totally different teams. Bayern on the one side were totally dominant and had chances to win even higher and Hertha on the other side were completely harmless. Only Marco Pantelic was able to score after the only mistake that happened in Bayern's game. I start to look forward to the season even though there still aren't enough players in Klinsmann's squad.
But to come to today's review:
X-Men
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Hugh Jackman ("Logan/Wolverine"), Patrick Stewart ("Prof. Charles Xavier"), Sir Ian McKellen ("Eric Lensherr/Magneto"), Famke Janssen ("Dr. Jean Grey"), Anna Paquin ("Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue"), Halle Berry ("Ororo Munroe/Storm")
Review: Before I write a lot about the movie I have to confess that until today I had only watched X-Men 2 and X-Men 3. I started watching X-1 once but I didn't really feel what all the fuss was all about. But when I bought X-2 and X-3 I had to buy X-1 as well because i wanted to have them all. But I only came to watch it today.
The movie starts with a conference in which Jean Grey talks about mutants. there has been a discussion about whether or not mutants should be considered dangerous. One of the most aggressive leaders against mutants is Senator Kelly. He wants mutants to be imprisoned. Present at the conference are also Prof. Charles Xavier, headmaster of a school for mutants, which is kept from the outside world, and Eric Lensherr aka Magneto. They both want mutants to leave without fear but where Xavier wants to achieve this with diplomacy, Magneto's way is war.
We change the scene to Canada where teenage girl Rogue meets Wolverine, a mutant who can heal himself and has been implanted with adamantium, an unbreakable metal. Rogue has run away from home because she is a mutant herself. She literally sucks the life out off people when they touch her skin. After Rogue hides in Wolverine's car they decide to travel together, but they are attacked by Sabretooth, one of Magneto's associates. Wolverine gets knocked out during the fight and Rogue is stuck in the crashed car. When Sabretooth is approaching the car Rogue and Wolverine are saved by Storm and Cyclops who work for Xavier. The take them to Xavier's school where the professor tries to find out what magneto wanted with them.
At the same time Magneto's right hand Mystique, a chameleon mutant, kidnaps Senator Kelly and takes him Magneto. Magneto has build a machine which mutates the genes of normal people with the help of radiation. When Senator Kelly, already a mutant, escapes Magneto he runs to see Jean Grey at Xavier's. He is getting weaker and weaker and dies by turning into a puddle of water. At the meantime, Magneto kidnaps Rogue. With her help he wants to mutate all politicians of the UN who are on Ellis Island at a conference. Magneto has put his machine into the torch of the Statue of Liberty and wants to use Rogue to activate the machine, because she can absorb his powers and multiply them.
Of course the X-Men, that's what the kids at Xavier's school call Storm, Cyclops, Jean and Wolverine, try to safe Rogue and stop Magneto....
When I first tried to watch X-1 I thought it was boring and it didn't really get to me. But now that I've seen x-2 and X-3 I liked X-1. It's a nice and yet action-packed first part of a trilogy. As an introduction it is very well done even though the other two movies are better than X-1.
The plot is nice and entertaining, but it misses a little bit of dramaturgy. This was done better in films like Iron Man or Batman Begins which also started a new series of movies.
What I like most about the X-Men films are a): the special effects and b): the actors.
There's not much to say about the special effects, I simply think they are nice even though they increase in quality from movie to movie.
The actors on the other hand stay on the same level in each film. But this level is rather good for a comic book adaptation. But it's not only the acting, but the actors themselves whom I like.
Hugh Jackman is on son-of-a-bitch and that is meant as a compliment. He's just extremely cool. Ian McKellen has been one of the greatest actors for me since I've first seen him. I can't remember which film it was but just has the charm of a fatherly person.
But my favourite in X-Men is, of course, a woman. Famke Janssen is one hot foxy lady. She may be already in her forties, but damn this woman is hot. Maybe it's the fact that, as a native Dutch, she speaks German, but I really like the looks of her.
The rest of the cast, including Halle Berry whom I normally dislike, is good as well. They all deserve to take credit for a nicely done movie which is definitely worth watching, although the trilogy gets better with each film.
7,8 out of 10 blade grinding mutants
So this weekend was kinda nice. As usual I watched a lot of football (soccer for all of you Americans). On Friday Mainz 05 won 4:2 and they now are first in the 2. Bundesliga, the best second league worldwide! Then on Sunday Bayern Munich won 4:1 against Hertha BSC Berlin. Their first victory in the Bundesliga since Jürgen Klinsmann is head coach. It was a very good and entertaining match with two totally different teams. Bayern on the one side were totally dominant and had chances to win even higher and Hertha on the other side were completely harmless. Only Marco Pantelic was able to score after the only mistake that happened in Bayern's game. I start to look forward to the season even though there still aren't enough players in Klinsmann's squad.
But to come to today's review:
X-Men
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Hugh Jackman ("Logan/Wolverine"), Patrick Stewart ("Prof. Charles Xavier"), Sir Ian McKellen ("Eric Lensherr/Magneto"), Famke Janssen ("Dr. Jean Grey"), Anna Paquin ("Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue"), Halle Berry ("Ororo Munroe/Storm")
Review: Before I write a lot about the movie I have to confess that until today I had only watched X-Men 2 and X-Men 3. I started watching X-1 once but I didn't really feel what all the fuss was all about. But when I bought X-2 and X-3 I had to buy X-1 as well because i wanted to have them all. But I only came to watch it today.
The movie starts with a conference in which Jean Grey talks about mutants. there has been a discussion about whether or not mutants should be considered dangerous. One of the most aggressive leaders against mutants is Senator Kelly. He wants mutants to be imprisoned. Present at the conference are also Prof. Charles Xavier, headmaster of a school for mutants, which is kept from the outside world, and Eric Lensherr aka Magneto. They both want mutants to leave without fear but where Xavier wants to achieve this with diplomacy, Magneto's way is war.
We change the scene to Canada where teenage girl Rogue meets Wolverine, a mutant who can heal himself and has been implanted with adamantium, an unbreakable metal. Rogue has run away from home because she is a mutant herself. She literally sucks the life out off people when they touch her skin. After Rogue hides in Wolverine's car they decide to travel together, but they are attacked by Sabretooth, one of Magneto's associates. Wolverine gets knocked out during the fight and Rogue is stuck in the crashed car. When Sabretooth is approaching the car Rogue and Wolverine are saved by Storm and Cyclops who work for Xavier. The take them to Xavier's school where the professor tries to find out what magneto wanted with them.
At the same time Magneto's right hand Mystique, a chameleon mutant, kidnaps Senator Kelly and takes him Magneto. Magneto has build a machine which mutates the genes of normal people with the help of radiation. When Senator Kelly, already a mutant, escapes Magneto he runs to see Jean Grey at Xavier's. He is getting weaker and weaker and dies by turning into a puddle of water. At the meantime, Magneto kidnaps Rogue. With her help he wants to mutate all politicians of the UN who are on Ellis Island at a conference. Magneto has put his machine into the torch of the Statue of Liberty and wants to use Rogue to activate the machine, because she can absorb his powers and multiply them.
Of course the X-Men, that's what the kids at Xavier's school call Storm, Cyclops, Jean and Wolverine, try to safe Rogue and stop Magneto....
When I first tried to watch X-1 I thought it was boring and it didn't really get to me. But now that I've seen x-2 and X-3 I liked X-1. It's a nice and yet action-packed first part of a trilogy. As an introduction it is very well done even though the other two movies are better than X-1.
The plot is nice and entertaining, but it misses a little bit of dramaturgy. This was done better in films like Iron Man or Batman Begins which also started a new series of movies.
What I like most about the X-Men films are a): the special effects and b): the actors.
There's not much to say about the special effects, I simply think they are nice even though they increase in quality from movie to movie.
The actors on the other hand stay on the same level in each film. But this level is rather good for a comic book adaptation. But it's not only the acting, but the actors themselves whom I like.
Hugh Jackman is on son-of-a-bitch and that is meant as a compliment. He's just extremely cool. Ian McKellen has been one of the greatest actors for me since I've first seen him. I can't remember which film it was but just has the charm of a fatherly person.
But my favourite in X-Men is, of course, a woman. Famke Janssen is one hot foxy lady. She may be already in her forties, but damn this woman is hot. Maybe it's the fact that, as a native Dutch, she speaks German, but I really like the looks of her.
The rest of the cast, including Halle Berry whom I normally dislike, is good as well. They all deserve to take credit for a nicely done movie which is definitely worth watching, although the trilogy gets better with each film.
7,8 out of 10 blade grinding mutants
Freitag, 29. August 2008
#20
Wow! It's #20 already. To be perfectly honest, I Didn't expect me to get this far. I'm kind of proud. But anyway.
I would really appreciate it if there would be some feedback given by those who read this. I just want to find out if what I'm doing is good or could use a makeover.
So here's my new review:
Note: There will be spoilers in this review!
Babel
Director: Alejandro González Inarritú
Cast: Brad Pitt ("Richard Jones"), Cate Blanchett ("Susan Jones"), Adriana Barraza ("Amelia"), Rinko Kikuchi ("Cheiko Wataya"), Mustapha Rachidi ("Abdullah")
Review: Communication is an essential thing in the world of today. Wherever you go or whoever you are, you have to be able to communicate with the people around you.
Communication is also the topic of "Babel".
The movie starts with two little Morrocan boys in the middle of nowhere. Their father buys a rifle from a neighbour to shoot the jackals and save their goat. The boys are sent to feed the goat on the nearby mountains. They take the rifle with them. At the top of the mountain the two start joking around and try to shot a bus in the far distant. They think that nothing happened, but then the bus stopps. Inside the bus are Richard and Susan Jones who are on their holidays. They have had some marriage problems and so their contact with eachother is not that heart warming at the moment. When they drive through Morocco, Susan takes a nap in the bus. But suddenly she is shot in the shoulder. Since there is no hospital nearby they drive to the village of the tour guide. When they arrive in the village Richard calls his sister-in-law to contact the embassy. But the people in the bus are scared and want to go on. So Richard and Susan, who by now has lost a lot of blood, are left behind.
Change of scene:
We are in the USA where Richard's and Susan's kids are being watched by their Mexican nanny Amelia who is an illegal immigrant living in the USA for almost 16 years. She gets a phone call from Richard who tells her that she can go to her sons wedding that evening. But it turns out that Susan's sister can't make it in time and so Amelia has to take the children to Mexico to the wedding. They have a great time and stay until it's very late. Santiago, Amelia's nephew, takes the three back to San diego, but there are problems at the border since Amelia hasn't got any confirmation that she is in charge of the children. So Santiago breaks through, but they are followed by the police. They drive into the dessert, where Santiago leaves Amelia and the kids. The next day, Amelia leaves the children behind as well, because she wants to find help. But instead she gets arrested.
Change of scene agian:
We now find ourselves in Tokyo where the deaf-mute Cheiko is being sent off the volleyball court because she insulted the referee. She plays in a deaf-mute team and the girls meet at a restaurant/lounge after the match. While driving to the lounge we learn that Cheiko's mother died recently and that she and her father have had quarrels, because Cheiko thinks that her father doesn't pay attention to her. While we follow Cheiko during her day we also learn that she is still a virgin. When a group of guys talk to the girls and turn away because they realise that they are deaf-mute, she takes off her panties in the restroom to show the guys the "real hairy monster". At home, Cheiko gets visited by two police officers who want to talk to her Dad. But he isn't home. She goes out again and meets the cousin of one of her friends. He takes her to a disco, but makes out with Cheiko's friend in the end. So she goes home and calls one of the officers who left his card in case she wanted to talk to them. When he gets there she finds out that they didn't come this afternoon because they wanted to talk about the suicide of her mother but because they wanted to know if her father gave away a rifle while hunting in Morocco a few years ago.
"Babel" is an episodic film. The episode are short and are not told chronologically. Inarritú has managed to create a movie that doesn't live from the extraordinary performances of the actors but from the stories that are being told and which lead together in the end.
There is also a fourth plotline about the two boys who shot Susan. They try to run away from everything but sooner or later their father finds out and the police come after all of them.
The tone of the movie is rather melancholic and quiet which makes it even more intense. Another factor that improves the intensity is the Academy Award winnig music composed by Gustavo Santaolalla. Intensity is a keyword to describe "Babel". The world in which everything happens seem so real and almost tangible so that the viewer can feel what the characters probably feel. The director is able to make us, the viewers, understand how important it is to not only talk constantly, but also to listen in a world that is hard to understand.
8,7 out of 10 communication problems
I would really appreciate it if there would be some feedback given by those who read this. I just want to find out if what I'm doing is good or could use a makeover.
So here's my new review:
Note: There will be spoilers in this review!
Babel
Director: Alejandro González Inarritú
Cast: Brad Pitt ("Richard Jones"), Cate Blanchett ("Susan Jones"), Adriana Barraza ("Amelia"), Rinko Kikuchi ("Cheiko Wataya"), Mustapha Rachidi ("Abdullah")
Review: Communication is an essential thing in the world of today. Wherever you go or whoever you are, you have to be able to communicate with the people around you.
Communication is also the topic of "Babel".
The movie starts with two little Morrocan boys in the middle of nowhere. Their father buys a rifle from a neighbour to shoot the jackals and save their goat. The boys are sent to feed the goat on the nearby mountains. They take the rifle with them. At the top of the mountain the two start joking around and try to shot a bus in the far distant. They think that nothing happened, but then the bus stopps. Inside the bus are Richard and Susan Jones who are on their holidays. They have had some marriage problems and so their contact with eachother is not that heart warming at the moment. When they drive through Morocco, Susan takes a nap in the bus. But suddenly she is shot in the shoulder. Since there is no hospital nearby they drive to the village of the tour guide. When they arrive in the village Richard calls his sister-in-law to contact the embassy. But the people in the bus are scared and want to go on. So Richard and Susan, who by now has lost a lot of blood, are left behind.
Change of scene:
We are in the USA where Richard's and Susan's kids are being watched by their Mexican nanny Amelia who is an illegal immigrant living in the USA for almost 16 years. She gets a phone call from Richard who tells her that she can go to her sons wedding that evening. But it turns out that Susan's sister can't make it in time and so Amelia has to take the children to Mexico to the wedding. They have a great time and stay until it's very late. Santiago, Amelia's nephew, takes the three back to San diego, but there are problems at the border since Amelia hasn't got any confirmation that she is in charge of the children. So Santiago breaks through, but they are followed by the police. They drive into the dessert, where Santiago leaves Amelia and the kids. The next day, Amelia leaves the children behind as well, because she wants to find help. But instead she gets arrested.
Change of scene agian:
We now find ourselves in Tokyo where the deaf-mute Cheiko is being sent off the volleyball court because she insulted the referee. She plays in a deaf-mute team and the girls meet at a restaurant/lounge after the match. While driving to the lounge we learn that Cheiko's mother died recently and that she and her father have had quarrels, because Cheiko thinks that her father doesn't pay attention to her. While we follow Cheiko during her day we also learn that she is still a virgin. When a group of guys talk to the girls and turn away because they realise that they are deaf-mute, she takes off her panties in the restroom to show the guys the "real hairy monster". At home, Cheiko gets visited by two police officers who want to talk to her Dad. But he isn't home. She goes out again and meets the cousin of one of her friends. He takes her to a disco, but makes out with Cheiko's friend in the end. So she goes home and calls one of the officers who left his card in case she wanted to talk to them. When he gets there she finds out that they didn't come this afternoon because they wanted to talk about the suicide of her mother but because they wanted to know if her father gave away a rifle while hunting in Morocco a few years ago.
"Babel" is an episodic film. The episode are short and are not told chronologically. Inarritú has managed to create a movie that doesn't live from the extraordinary performances of the actors but from the stories that are being told and which lead together in the end.
There is also a fourth plotline about the two boys who shot Susan. They try to run away from everything but sooner or later their father finds out and the police come after all of them.
The tone of the movie is rather melancholic and quiet which makes it even more intense. Another factor that improves the intensity is the Academy Award winnig music composed by Gustavo Santaolalla. Intensity is a keyword to describe "Babel". The world in which everything happens seem so real and almost tangible so that the viewer can feel what the characters probably feel. The director is able to make us, the viewers, understand how important it is to not only talk constantly, but also to listen in a world that is hard to understand.
8,7 out of 10 communication problems
Montag, 25. August 2008
#19
I know that I promised a review about "The Dark Knigh" but since I still am a little puzzled about how I feel and how much I liked the movie I decided to watch the movie once more before I review it so you guys have to wait a little longer. Just so much: I liked it, but I'm not sure how much I liked it.
But since the Olympics ended today I just wanted to write a short conclusion about the last 16 days of Beijing:
16 Gold Medals for the German athletes is a respectable result. We ended up 5th in the medal ranking with a total of 41 medals. I'm really satisfied with this result. 16 gold medals is really a lot.
I'm happy and proud of every German athlete who won a medal. It's an amazing achievement to be under the top three athletes in the world. I congratulate alle the athletes who participated. Through the Olympics I came to love Beachvolleyball, mostly because Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig are really talented, young and also hot. I have always been attracted to beauty combined with amazing talent. But that's another story.
I have to admit that I am surprised about the way the Chinese held these Games. They seemed to have been really good hosts and even though there are a lot of issues concerning human rights and political differences, the Chinese did a terrific job and raised the bar for London 2012. But I'm sure that the Brits will be just as good hosts as the Chinese and hopefully I can go to London in 2012 and see some of the dedcisions of the next Olympic Games.
And now for a short review:
The Virgin Suicides
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: James Woods ("Mr. Lisbon"), Kathleen Turner ("Mrs. Lisbon"), Kirsten Dunst ("Lux Lisbon"), Josh Hartnett ("Trip")
Review: Suburban Michigan in the 1970s. Mr. Lisbon is a math teacher at the local high school. He has 5 daughter. Cecilia is 13, Lux is 14, Mary is 15, Bonnie is 16 and Therese is 17. They all are blond, tall and very beautiful. But since her mother is worried sick about her daughters they have basically no contact to other teenagers. One of the reasons for their mother's worries is Cecilia who is depressed and tries to kill herself. After she comes back from the hospital her parents throw her a welcome back party where boys are invited. But Cecilia hasn't been that much better and kills herself that very evening. This causes her mother to be even more protective. None of the girls is allowed to go out, but when the heartbreaker of their school, Trip, asks Lux out to Homecoming Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon allow their girls to go. But it ends in another tragedy. Even though Trip has feelings for Lux he leaves her alone after having sex with her on the football field. When Lux gets home the next morning her mother takes all the girls away from school. From now on they have to stay inside the house and Lux has to burn all of her records for punishment. But as the movie is narrated constantly by a neighbors boy we find out that the Lisbon girls contact 4 of the neighbors and listen to music over the telephone. The 4 boys have been in love with the girls for a long time and they hope for a romantic adventure with the Lisbon girls. Some nights later, Lux invites them over to go for a ride. lux is going to get her parents car and the boys are to wait in the living room for the three other sisters. They can't wait and go to the basement where they find one of the sisters who has hung herself. They run out of the house and nearly stumble over the second sister who has put her head in the oven. The next morning the police find all of the girls dead in their home. Lux has killed herself with the exhaust fumes of her parents car and the fourth sister killed herself by taking too many sleeping pills.
"The Virgin Suicides" is a social behaviour analysis that shows the viewer what overprotection and too much worry can cause in your children. It seems to be a popular topic in movies to show parents with beautiful teenage daughters who are protected from society and men as if they were raw eggs. The biggest problem is that many children and teenager are crying for help but nobody hears them. In a time where growing-up isn't a slow but a very fast process and sex seems to be a goal that must be reached as fast as possible in some social groups, it is very difficult and confusing to be a teenager. Especially when you don't have anybody who can help you with your situtation. And there you have the vicious circle that I see. Even though 13 or 14-year old girls may already be sexually mature they still are childs psychologically. So they are pressured by society into being sexually active and they think that this is the right thing to do, but in the end their minds don't understand what is happening, because it still is in a child phase.
So to come to a conclusion:
"The Virgin Suicides" is not a movie that lives from its cast, even though they all perform more than solid, but from its psychological dimension. And therefore its rating is not based on what the movie is in itself but also on what influence the movie has on the viewers mind. It made me think a lot about the problems teenagers and especially teenage girls have, even though it is set in the 1970s.
8,3 out 10 psychologically damaged teenage girls
But since the Olympics ended today I just wanted to write a short conclusion about the last 16 days of Beijing:
16 Gold Medals for the German athletes is a respectable result. We ended up 5th in the medal ranking with a total of 41 medals. I'm really satisfied with this result. 16 gold medals is really a lot.
I'm happy and proud of every German athlete who won a medal. It's an amazing achievement to be under the top three athletes in the world. I congratulate alle the athletes who participated. Through the Olympics I came to love Beachvolleyball, mostly because Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig are really talented, young and also hot. I have always been attracted to beauty combined with amazing talent. But that's another story.
I have to admit that I am surprised about the way the Chinese held these Games. They seemed to have been really good hosts and even though there are a lot of issues concerning human rights and political differences, the Chinese did a terrific job and raised the bar for London 2012. But I'm sure that the Brits will be just as good hosts as the Chinese and hopefully I can go to London in 2012 and see some of the dedcisions of the next Olympic Games.
And now for a short review:
The Virgin Suicides
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: James Woods ("Mr. Lisbon"), Kathleen Turner ("Mrs. Lisbon"), Kirsten Dunst ("Lux Lisbon"), Josh Hartnett ("Trip")
Review: Suburban Michigan in the 1970s. Mr. Lisbon is a math teacher at the local high school. He has 5 daughter. Cecilia is 13, Lux is 14, Mary is 15, Bonnie is 16 and Therese is 17. They all are blond, tall and very beautiful. But since her mother is worried sick about her daughters they have basically no contact to other teenagers. One of the reasons for their mother's worries is Cecilia who is depressed and tries to kill herself. After she comes back from the hospital her parents throw her a welcome back party where boys are invited. But Cecilia hasn't been that much better and kills herself that very evening. This causes her mother to be even more protective. None of the girls is allowed to go out, but when the heartbreaker of their school, Trip, asks Lux out to Homecoming Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon allow their girls to go. But it ends in another tragedy. Even though Trip has feelings for Lux he leaves her alone after having sex with her on the football field. When Lux gets home the next morning her mother takes all the girls away from school. From now on they have to stay inside the house and Lux has to burn all of her records for punishment. But as the movie is narrated constantly by a neighbors boy we find out that the Lisbon girls contact 4 of the neighbors and listen to music over the telephone. The 4 boys have been in love with the girls for a long time and they hope for a romantic adventure with the Lisbon girls. Some nights later, Lux invites them over to go for a ride. lux is going to get her parents car and the boys are to wait in the living room for the three other sisters. They can't wait and go to the basement where they find one of the sisters who has hung herself. They run out of the house and nearly stumble over the second sister who has put her head in the oven. The next morning the police find all of the girls dead in their home. Lux has killed herself with the exhaust fumes of her parents car and the fourth sister killed herself by taking too many sleeping pills.
"The Virgin Suicides" is a social behaviour analysis that shows the viewer what overprotection and too much worry can cause in your children. It seems to be a popular topic in movies to show parents with beautiful teenage daughters who are protected from society and men as if they were raw eggs. The biggest problem is that many children and teenager are crying for help but nobody hears them. In a time where growing-up isn't a slow but a very fast process and sex seems to be a goal that must be reached as fast as possible in some social groups, it is very difficult and confusing to be a teenager. Especially when you don't have anybody who can help you with your situtation. And there you have the vicious circle that I see. Even though 13 or 14-year old girls may already be sexually mature they still are childs psychologically. So they are pressured by society into being sexually active and they think that this is the right thing to do, but in the end their minds don't understand what is happening, because it still is in a child phase.
So to come to a conclusion:
"The Virgin Suicides" is not a movie that lives from its cast, even though they all perform more than solid, but from its psychological dimension. And therefore its rating is not based on what the movie is in itself but also on what influence the movie has on the viewers mind. It made me think a lot about the problems teenagers and especially teenage girls have, even though it is set in the 1970s.
8,3 out 10 psychologically damaged teenage girls
Montag, 11. August 2008
#18
So I finally managed to get time to watch a movie. With all the Olympics and series that I've been watching lately it was kind of hard to find 100 minutes of continous time to watch a movie.
But before I go into reviewing it I want to say something that I'll do different starting with this review:
I have been avoiding spoilers as much as possible because I didn't want to ruin the movies for anybody but since the texts I write are reviews I will stop avoiding spoilers by all means and I will write the reviews as they come into my mind without censoring them.
So:
There will be spoilers on this site from now on and they will not be marked in any way!
And there will also be no differentiation between plot and review anymore. There will just be a review part that contains both, plot and my thoughts on the movie.
But to get started:
The Big White
Director: Mark Mylod
Cast: Robin Williams ("Paul Barnell"), Holly Hunter ("Margaret Barnell"), Giovanni Ribisi ("Ted"), Woody Harrelson ("Raymond Barnell"), Alison Lohman ("Tiffany")
Review: Paul Barnell is broke. He owns a travel agency in the middle of Alaska and nobody is ever booking any flights. But Paul has other problems: His wife seems to have Tourrette syndrome and his brother Raymond has been missing for five years. But the latter seems to become a positive fact, because Raymond had a $1,000,000 life insurance which Paul wants to be paid out to him. But there is one little problem: In Alaska, a man can only be declared dead after seven years. But Paul needs the money immediately. One night he stumbles across a dead body in a dumpster next to his agency. This seems to be perfect. He takes the body home, makes everybody believe that raymond has come home and then simulates his death. everthing seems to work out fine, but then there is Ted, an employee at the insurance company, who wants to save the company money so that they transfer him to another place. He lives with his girlfriend who works as a self-employed telephone psychic.
In the meantime, the guys who killed "Raymond" come back to the dumpster to get the body back to their employer since he wants prove that they did the job. When they hear that a body has turned up, they go to Paul's house and kidnap his wife Margaret. And to make it even worse, the real Raymond turns up because he has read about his death in the paper.
So Paul tells the gangsters that he got $50,000 from the insurance company and that he'll give them half of it and then he tells Raymond that he got $100,000 and wants to share it with him.
"The Big White" is a weird comedy though and through. But weird in very charming and entertaining way. It all starts when Paul finds the body and wants to make everybody believe it's Raymond. To make the body hard to identify he kicks it off a cliff and puts meat and bacon on it, so that the wolves will eat it. As crazy as the idea is it works out. But Ted doesn't believe Paul and he finds evidence to prove that he is right. When Paul gets beaten up by Raymond, he goes to Ted's boss to tell him that Ted beat him up. So he gets the check.
As strange as the plot is, the characters are what make the movie remarkable:
There is Paul, played by Robin Williams, a loser who loves his wife very much and who tries to do everything to make her better.
Then there is Margaret, played wonderfully by the beautiful and talented Holly hunter, Paul's wife who has completely lost it and thinks she has Tourrette.
Also, we have Ted, played by a terrificly over-the-top-ambitious Giovanni Ribisi, who wants to get the hell out of Alaska and gets more and more affected by Paul's case. Over this he nearly loses his flaky girlfriend Tiffany, who is portrayed by the absolutely cute and gorgeous Alison Lohman. Tiffany tries to make a living as a telephone psychic. She really loves Ted, but he starts to care less for her after he was assigned to Paul's case.
Finally there is Raymond, played by Woody Harrelson, who seems to be completely out of his mind.
And then there are the two gangster, Jimbo and Gary, who establish some kind of a sick friendshipy relation to Margaret while they kidnap her.
The movie ends with a showdown on a glacier outlook, where Paul is supposed to exchange the $50,000 and the body in exchange for his wife, but Ted tries to stop them. This is the moment when Raymond appears, kicks Ted in the balls, runs towards Paul and finally shoots at Margaret because he can't shoot at his brother.
To sum it up, "The Big White" is a very kind and warm comedy even though it deals with death and betrayal. Holly Hunter was 47 by the time the movie was shot, but she looks incredibly beautiful and sweet. Alison Lohman is, without a doubt, the most beautiful actress born in the 70's and this is with Heather Graham, Angelina Jolie, Live Tyler, Cameron Diaz and Mena Suvari as a competition.
8,3 out of 10 frozen bodies
That'll be it for today. I will be back with my personal review of "The Dark Knight" either Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon. So stick around if you want to know Fox's way of thinking about the "Best Movie of the last 20 years".
But before I go into reviewing it I want to say something that I'll do different starting with this review:
I have been avoiding spoilers as much as possible because I didn't want to ruin the movies for anybody but since the texts I write are reviews I will stop avoiding spoilers by all means and I will write the reviews as they come into my mind without censoring them.
So:
There will be spoilers on this site from now on and they will not be marked in any way!
And there will also be no differentiation between plot and review anymore. There will just be a review part that contains both, plot and my thoughts on the movie.
But to get started:
The Big White
Director: Mark Mylod
Cast: Robin Williams ("Paul Barnell"), Holly Hunter ("Margaret Barnell"), Giovanni Ribisi ("Ted"), Woody Harrelson ("Raymond Barnell"), Alison Lohman ("Tiffany")
Review: Paul Barnell is broke. He owns a travel agency in the middle of Alaska and nobody is ever booking any flights. But Paul has other problems: His wife seems to have Tourrette syndrome and his brother Raymond has been missing for five years. But the latter seems to become a positive fact, because Raymond had a $1,000,000 life insurance which Paul wants to be paid out to him. But there is one little problem: In Alaska, a man can only be declared dead after seven years. But Paul needs the money immediately. One night he stumbles across a dead body in a dumpster next to his agency. This seems to be perfect. He takes the body home, makes everybody believe that raymond has come home and then simulates his death. everthing seems to work out fine, but then there is Ted, an employee at the insurance company, who wants to save the company money so that they transfer him to another place. He lives with his girlfriend who works as a self-employed telephone psychic.
In the meantime, the guys who killed "Raymond" come back to the dumpster to get the body back to their employer since he wants prove that they did the job. When they hear that a body has turned up, they go to Paul's house and kidnap his wife Margaret. And to make it even worse, the real Raymond turns up because he has read about his death in the paper.
So Paul tells the gangsters that he got $50,000 from the insurance company and that he'll give them half of it and then he tells Raymond that he got $100,000 and wants to share it with him.
"The Big White" is a weird comedy though and through. But weird in very charming and entertaining way. It all starts when Paul finds the body and wants to make everybody believe it's Raymond. To make the body hard to identify he kicks it off a cliff and puts meat and bacon on it, so that the wolves will eat it. As crazy as the idea is it works out. But Ted doesn't believe Paul and he finds evidence to prove that he is right. When Paul gets beaten up by Raymond, he goes to Ted's boss to tell him that Ted beat him up. So he gets the check.
As strange as the plot is, the characters are what make the movie remarkable:
There is Paul, played by Robin Williams, a loser who loves his wife very much and who tries to do everything to make her better.
Then there is Margaret, played wonderfully by the beautiful and talented Holly hunter, Paul's wife who has completely lost it and thinks she has Tourrette.
Also, we have Ted, played by a terrificly over-the-top-ambitious Giovanni Ribisi, who wants to get the hell out of Alaska and gets more and more affected by Paul's case. Over this he nearly loses his flaky girlfriend Tiffany, who is portrayed by the absolutely cute and gorgeous Alison Lohman. Tiffany tries to make a living as a telephone psychic. She really loves Ted, but he starts to care less for her after he was assigned to Paul's case.
Finally there is Raymond, played by Woody Harrelson, who seems to be completely out of his mind.
And then there are the two gangster, Jimbo and Gary, who establish some kind of a sick friendshipy relation to Margaret while they kidnap her.
The movie ends with a showdown on a glacier outlook, where Paul is supposed to exchange the $50,000 and the body in exchange for his wife, but Ted tries to stop them. This is the moment when Raymond appears, kicks Ted in the balls, runs towards Paul and finally shoots at Margaret because he can't shoot at his brother.
To sum it up, "The Big White" is a very kind and warm comedy even though it deals with death and betrayal. Holly Hunter was 47 by the time the movie was shot, but she looks incredibly beautiful and sweet. Alison Lohman is, without a doubt, the most beautiful actress born in the 70's and this is with Heather Graham, Angelina Jolie, Live Tyler, Cameron Diaz and Mena Suvari as a competition.
8,3 out of 10 frozen bodies
That'll be it for today. I will be back with my personal review of "The Dark Knight" either Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon. So stick around if you want to know Fox's way of thinking about the "Best Movie of the last 20 years".
Mittwoch, 6. August 2008
#17
Buenas Tardes,
today the Olympics startet two days before the official opening with the first leg of the women's football. Germany v Brazil ended 0:0 but it was an entertaining match with chances on both sides. I guess both teams will make it at least till the semi finals. I hop that this year the German team will finally win the Olympic Gold Medal. But I guess we need to wait and see.
Anyway I watched another of my DVDs today:
Pan's Labyrinth
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Ivana Baquero ("Orfelia"), Sergi López ("Captain Vidal"), Maribel Verdú ("Mercedes"), Doug Jonas ("Fauno/Pale Man")
Plot: Spain during the Second World War. 10-year-old Ofelia and her mother are driving to an old mill in the middle of the woods where Ofelia's new father, Captain Vidal, is trying to hunt down some separatists who hide in the mountains and woods surrounding the mill. Ofelia is rather dreamy girl who likes to read fairy tales and lives in her own dream world. When they pause on the way to the mill because Ofelia's pregnant mother is feeling sick, Ofelia sees a creature that looks like a fairy to her. When they finally arrive at the mill, Ofelia sees the creature again and follows it into a labyrinth. At the end of the labyrinth she finds a stairway into an underground dungeon where she meets an ancient creature: a "Fauno". The "Fauno" tells her that she is a princess from another world and that, in oreder to return to her kingdom, she has to pass three tests. The first test is to climb into an old dying tree to kill the giant turtle that lives under it, in order to keep the tree from dying. Ofelia passes the test and has to face the second one. Meanwhile, Ofelia's mother is getting worse. Simultaneosly, Mercedes, one of the maids, is helping the separatists. She smuggles food and medicine to them, because her brother is with the separatists. As Ofelia is living her fairy tale we meet her new father, Captain Vidal. His guards found two men in the woods and brought them to the mill as prisoners. When they try to tell Vidal that they were hunting rabbits he slams the younger man's nose into his face and then shoots the older man. He wants to find the separatists by all means. Ofelia's second quest is to go into another dungeon to retrieve an item from a safe. In the dungeon she finds a table with the most incredible meals on it. At the end of the table sits an eyeless creature which does not move, but the pictures on the wall behind it show that it eats the children who come into the dungeon. The "Fauno" said to Ofelia that she wasn't to touch or eat any of the food. But while leaving the dungeon she take two grapes which make the creature awake and attack. Ofelia is able to escape the creature, but the "Fauno" is mad at her because she didn't do as she was told. The story continues as Captain Vidal finds out that there are traitors below his man. He kills the doctor, who also helped the separatists and then finds out about Mercedes but she manages to injure him and get away. At this point the final showdown begins with Mercedes escape and Ofelia's third and last challenge...
Review: Guillermo del Toro's six times Academy Award nominated and three times winning movie is a thriller/drama par excellence. When you first meet Ofelia you might think that she is just a dreamy 10-year-old girl who wants to live in the stories of her books. But there is more to this little girl than mere interest and facination in fairy tales. Ofelia has taken the part of an adult in her relationship with her mother. She is in many ways more grownup than a lot of people in their forties or fifties. Ofelia is not afraid of a lot of things. When she first meets the "Fauno" she is rather intrigued than afraid. towards the end of the movie she even hugs the scary looking creature. During her quests she acts as if she was older even though some stupid things she does remind the viewer that she is in fact a 10-year-old girl. Her love for her mother and the hate for her new father make her wish to live in the "Fauno's" world bigger. She wants her family to be safe and happy and away from Captain Vidal who is as ruthless as he is brutal.
Brutality is a major topic in del Toro's movie:
Captain Vidal and his men kill everybody who is in their way without asking any questions. The violence in this movie is pretty graphic therefore it got a R-Rating respectively a "ab 16" classification which absolutely is the correct choice.
The plot is very intruiging and thrilling and leads to a final showdown right from the beginnig, but you have to know a little bit about the war and the Franco regime in Spain at that time. The question now is whether or not "Pan's Labyrinth" deserves its fiftyninth place at the imdb.com Top 250. My answer would be:
Top 250? Yes!
#59 with an average of 8,4? Yes!
Guillermo del Toro has created an own sub-genre. "Pan's Labyrinth" is a mixture of a violent fairy tale thriller and a war drama. This may sound weird and impossible in the first moment but it works perfectly.
I will try to watch the movie in Spanish in the nearer future and give you update of my opinion then, but for now:
8,7 out of 10 screaming, eyeless beasts
That's everything for today.
today the Olympics startet two days before the official opening with the first leg of the women's football. Germany v Brazil ended 0:0 but it was an entertaining match with chances on both sides. I guess both teams will make it at least till the semi finals. I hop that this year the German team will finally win the Olympic Gold Medal. But I guess we need to wait and see.
Anyway I watched another of my DVDs today:
Pan's Labyrinth
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Ivana Baquero ("Orfelia"), Sergi López ("Captain Vidal"), Maribel Verdú ("Mercedes"), Doug Jonas ("Fauno/Pale Man")
Plot: Spain during the Second World War. 10-year-old Ofelia and her mother are driving to an old mill in the middle of the woods where Ofelia's new father, Captain Vidal, is trying to hunt down some separatists who hide in the mountains and woods surrounding the mill. Ofelia is rather dreamy girl who likes to read fairy tales and lives in her own dream world. When they pause on the way to the mill because Ofelia's pregnant mother is feeling sick, Ofelia sees a creature that looks like a fairy to her. When they finally arrive at the mill, Ofelia sees the creature again and follows it into a labyrinth. At the end of the labyrinth she finds a stairway into an underground dungeon where she meets an ancient creature: a "Fauno". The "Fauno" tells her that she is a princess from another world and that, in oreder to return to her kingdom, she has to pass three tests. The first test is to climb into an old dying tree to kill the giant turtle that lives under it, in order to keep the tree from dying. Ofelia passes the test and has to face the second one. Meanwhile, Ofelia's mother is getting worse. Simultaneosly, Mercedes, one of the maids, is helping the separatists. She smuggles food and medicine to them, because her brother is with the separatists. As Ofelia is living her fairy tale we meet her new father, Captain Vidal. His guards found two men in the woods and brought them to the mill as prisoners. When they try to tell Vidal that they were hunting rabbits he slams the younger man's nose into his face and then shoots the older man. He wants to find the separatists by all means. Ofelia's second quest is to go into another dungeon to retrieve an item from a safe. In the dungeon she finds a table with the most incredible meals on it. At the end of the table sits an eyeless creature which does not move, but the pictures on the wall behind it show that it eats the children who come into the dungeon. The "Fauno" said to Ofelia that she wasn't to touch or eat any of the food. But while leaving the dungeon she take two grapes which make the creature awake and attack. Ofelia is able to escape the creature, but the "Fauno" is mad at her because she didn't do as she was told. The story continues as Captain Vidal finds out that there are traitors below his man. He kills the doctor, who also helped the separatists and then finds out about Mercedes but she manages to injure him and get away. At this point the final showdown begins with Mercedes escape and Ofelia's third and last challenge...
Review: Guillermo del Toro's six times Academy Award nominated and three times winning movie is a thriller/drama par excellence. When you first meet Ofelia you might think that she is just a dreamy 10-year-old girl who wants to live in the stories of her books. But there is more to this little girl than mere interest and facination in fairy tales. Ofelia has taken the part of an adult in her relationship with her mother. She is in many ways more grownup than a lot of people in their forties or fifties. Ofelia is not afraid of a lot of things. When she first meets the "Fauno" she is rather intrigued than afraid. towards the end of the movie she even hugs the scary looking creature. During her quests she acts as if she was older even though some stupid things she does remind the viewer that she is in fact a 10-year-old girl. Her love for her mother and the hate for her new father make her wish to live in the "Fauno's" world bigger. She wants her family to be safe and happy and away from Captain Vidal who is as ruthless as he is brutal.
Brutality is a major topic in del Toro's movie:
Captain Vidal and his men kill everybody who is in their way without asking any questions. The violence in this movie is pretty graphic therefore it got a R-Rating respectively a "ab 16" classification which absolutely is the correct choice.
The plot is very intruiging and thrilling and leads to a final showdown right from the beginnig, but you have to know a little bit about the war and the Franco regime in Spain at that time. The question now is whether or not "Pan's Labyrinth" deserves its fiftyninth place at the imdb.com Top 250. My answer would be:
Top 250? Yes!
#59 with an average of 8,4? Yes!
Guillermo del Toro has created an own sub-genre. "Pan's Labyrinth" is a mixture of a violent fairy tale thriller and a war drama. This may sound weird and impossible in the first moment but it works perfectly.
I will try to watch the movie in Spanish in the nearer future and give you update of my opinion then, but for now:
8,7 out of 10 screaming, eyeless beasts
That's everything for today.
Montag, 4. August 2008
#16
The last couple of days have been really slow, so there are no real big news.
Rafael van der Vaart is finally going to Real Madrid for 15m €. That's not that bad since he could have left for 1.5m € next summer. But I guess Bernd Schuster really wanted him there and since Cristiano Ronaldo is much more expensive and much harder to get they took Rafa. It's a shame that we won't see much of his wife, Sylvie, anymore.
Tomorrow you should watch Bayern Munich v Inter. The ZDF will broadcast the Franz-Beckenbauer-Cup live from the Allianz Arena from 20:15 on. This will be the last test-match of Bayern so they should be up to shape. I'm hoping for a good match and some nice goals. Maybe Klinsmann will give Mehmet Ekici and Toni Kroos another chance.
But to come to another topic: Today's movie review.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian of Narnia
Director: Andrew Adamson
Cast: William Moseley ("Peter Pevensie"), Anna Popplewell ("Susan Pevensie"), Skandar Keynes ("Edmund Pevensie"), Georgie Henley ("Lucy Pevensie"), Ben Barnes ("Prince Caspian"), Sergio Castellito ("King Miraz")
Plot: One year has passed since the Pevensie children returned from the wonderful land of Narnia, where time passes a lot faster than in the "real" world. They ruled as Kings and Queens in Narnia for many years, but they returned and left Narnia as it was and thought it would stay like this. Unfortunately one year in our world is 1300 years in Narnia time. And a lot has changed since they left. But they don't return on their own will, but they are called with Susan's horn that she left in Narnia. It was blown by Prince Caspian, the crown prince of the Telmarines who is pursued by his own warriors, because his uncle wants him dead to take the throne for himself. He is rescued by a dwarf, a Narnian, whom the Telmarines thought to be dead. When Caspian's uncle, now King Miraz, finds out that there are Narnians left, he decides to kill them all once and for all. So there is a new war going on in Narnia and the Pevensie children are going to help Prince Caspian win the war against his own uncle.
Review: When I watched the first Narnia movie, "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", I already realised, that C.S. Lewis took some of his ideas from Tolkien, but it didn't bother me that much because it was a good and entertaining movie, but with "Prince Caspian" this changes. Even though it is still fun and entertaining, it lacks of new ideas, a thrilling plot and in effects. The film starts with Miraz' wife giving birth to a boy. But when we first get to London to see the Pevensie kids, there is no real explanation of what happened to them in our world. All we get to know is that Susan seems to be a loner and Peter likes to fight for no apparent reason at all. And when the children come back to Narnia it is merely mentioned that so much time has passed and that they were the great leaders of this world. This could have been done with a simple flashback to show what they really mean to the Narnians.
The next problem is the plot:
The Telmarines have conquered Narnia. But why? Nobody ever tells you. And why do they need to kill all the Narnians? No explanation there either. But that's not the mean problem with the plot. Everything seems to happen out of any real context. The Pevensies are called to Narnia and they just help without asking real questions. And what bugged me the most:
Why do the Telmarines have a Spanish accent? Yes, they are from the South Sea, but this accent is dubbed so badly in the German synchro that you wish for the english original right from the start of the movie.
Another big problem are the CG-effects/costumes. The "The Lord of the Rings"-Movies are 5 years old and yet the seem to be done better than "Prince Caspian". Don't get me wrong. Some effects, like Aslan's fur, are really good and nice to look at, but some effects look like taken from the late 90's of the last century. And this is also the case with some of the costumes, especially the creature-costumes. Some of them like the budget had been around $30m when in fact it was around $200m.
And to finally look at what's wrong with "Prince Caspian" you need to take a look at the characters. The male Pevensies, Peter and Edmund, are unlikeable. Peter is stubborn and bitchy and Edmund never seems to be doing anything constructive or helpful. And Miraz seems to be a clone of King Leonidas from the movie "300". And even Aslan seems to be a weisenheimer who is only in the movie to tell everybody platitudes.
A last point of criticism is the rating. In Germany you are allowed to see the movie with 12. And I agree with this rating. But it feels like the movie would've been better if the had added a little bit more violence and therefore a higher rating, but it seems like they had to get a PG or 12 rating, so that all the little kids can see the little mouse talk.
Nevertheless I said that the movie is fun and entertaining and it really is. There is a lot of humor in it and most of the characters work just fine. Especially Susan, played by Anna Popplewell, has turned into a real cutie.
The music and the locations are good as well and help the movie to at least transport the feeling of a real existing world.
As a résumé I think it is important to say that everybody who liked the first movie will come to like the second one as well even though there are some major flaws in it.
7,3 out of 10 majestical roars
That is nearly it for now but:
For those who do not want to be spoilered: Don't continue reading!!!!!
I wanted to add, that I probably will not the next Narnia movie due to some simple facts:
1. Susan and Peter will not return to Narnia, so the next movie is about Edmund, Lucy and King Caspian.
2. The plot seems to be less interesting as the last ones.
Rafael van der Vaart is finally going to Real Madrid for 15m €. That's not that bad since he could have left for 1.5m € next summer. But I guess Bernd Schuster really wanted him there and since Cristiano Ronaldo is much more expensive and much harder to get they took Rafa. It's a shame that we won't see much of his wife, Sylvie, anymore.
Tomorrow you should watch Bayern Munich v Inter. The ZDF will broadcast the Franz-Beckenbauer-Cup live from the Allianz Arena from 20:15 on. This will be the last test-match of Bayern so they should be up to shape. I'm hoping for a good match and some nice goals. Maybe Klinsmann will give Mehmet Ekici and Toni Kroos another chance.
But to come to another topic: Today's movie review.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian of Narnia
Director: Andrew Adamson
Cast: William Moseley ("Peter Pevensie"), Anna Popplewell ("Susan Pevensie"), Skandar Keynes ("Edmund Pevensie"), Georgie Henley ("Lucy Pevensie"), Ben Barnes ("Prince Caspian"), Sergio Castellito ("King Miraz")
Plot: One year has passed since the Pevensie children returned from the wonderful land of Narnia, where time passes a lot faster than in the "real" world. They ruled as Kings and Queens in Narnia for many years, but they returned and left Narnia as it was and thought it would stay like this. Unfortunately one year in our world is 1300 years in Narnia time. And a lot has changed since they left. But they don't return on their own will, but they are called with Susan's horn that she left in Narnia. It was blown by Prince Caspian, the crown prince of the Telmarines who is pursued by his own warriors, because his uncle wants him dead to take the throne for himself. He is rescued by a dwarf, a Narnian, whom the Telmarines thought to be dead. When Caspian's uncle, now King Miraz, finds out that there are Narnians left, he decides to kill them all once and for all. So there is a new war going on in Narnia and the Pevensie children are going to help Prince Caspian win the war against his own uncle.
Review: When I watched the first Narnia movie, "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", I already realised, that C.S. Lewis took some of his ideas from Tolkien, but it didn't bother me that much because it was a good and entertaining movie, but with "Prince Caspian" this changes. Even though it is still fun and entertaining, it lacks of new ideas, a thrilling plot and in effects. The film starts with Miraz' wife giving birth to a boy. But when we first get to London to see the Pevensie kids, there is no real explanation of what happened to them in our world. All we get to know is that Susan seems to be a loner and Peter likes to fight for no apparent reason at all. And when the children come back to Narnia it is merely mentioned that so much time has passed and that they were the great leaders of this world. This could have been done with a simple flashback to show what they really mean to the Narnians.
The next problem is the plot:
The Telmarines have conquered Narnia. But why? Nobody ever tells you. And why do they need to kill all the Narnians? No explanation there either. But that's not the mean problem with the plot. Everything seems to happen out of any real context. The Pevensies are called to Narnia and they just help without asking real questions. And what bugged me the most:
Why do the Telmarines have a Spanish accent? Yes, they are from the South Sea, but this accent is dubbed so badly in the German synchro that you wish for the english original right from the start of the movie.
Another big problem are the CG-effects/costumes. The "The Lord of the Rings"-Movies are 5 years old and yet the seem to be done better than "Prince Caspian". Don't get me wrong. Some effects, like Aslan's fur, are really good and nice to look at, but some effects look like taken from the late 90's of the last century. And this is also the case with some of the costumes, especially the creature-costumes. Some of them like the budget had been around $30m when in fact it was around $200m.
And to finally look at what's wrong with "Prince Caspian" you need to take a look at the characters. The male Pevensies, Peter and Edmund, are unlikeable. Peter is stubborn and bitchy and Edmund never seems to be doing anything constructive or helpful. And Miraz seems to be a clone of King Leonidas from the movie "300". And even Aslan seems to be a weisenheimer who is only in the movie to tell everybody platitudes.
A last point of criticism is the rating. In Germany you are allowed to see the movie with 12. And I agree with this rating. But it feels like the movie would've been better if the had added a little bit more violence and therefore a higher rating, but it seems like they had to get a PG or 12 rating, so that all the little kids can see the little mouse talk.
Nevertheless I said that the movie is fun and entertaining and it really is. There is a lot of humor in it and most of the characters work just fine. Especially Susan, played by Anna Popplewell, has turned into a real cutie.
The music and the locations are good as well and help the movie to at least transport the feeling of a real existing world.
As a résumé I think it is important to say that everybody who liked the first movie will come to like the second one as well even though there are some major flaws in it.
7,3 out of 10 majestical roars
That is nearly it for now but:
For those who do not want to be spoilered: Don't continue reading!!!!!
I wanted to add, that I probably will not the next Narnia movie due to some simple facts:
1. Susan and Peter will not return to Narnia, so the next movie is about Edmund, Lucy and King Caspian.
2. The plot seems to be less interesting as the last ones.
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